RELIGIOUS    FREEDOM    IN 
AMERICAN    EDUCATION 


RELIGIOUS    FREEDOM    IN 
AMERICAN    EDUCATION 


By 


JOSEPH   HENRY  CROOKER 

Author  of  Problems  in  American  Society,  etc. 


BOSTON 

AMERICAN   UNITARIAN   ASSOCIATION 

1903 


LC  1 1 J 

:c'75 


Copyright  1903 
American  Unitarian  Association 


A  WORD   OF  THANKS 

The  presidents  of  many  colleges  and  universi- 
ties have  responded  to  my  inquiries  for  facts 
with  uniform  courtesy  and  valuable  information. 
Many  other  persons  have  generously  aided  me  in 
my  investigations.  To  all  of  these  I  wish  to 
express  my  warmest  appreciation  for  the  kind- 
nesses received.  I  wish  especially  to  thank 
Prof.  Wm.  H.  Carruth  of  the  University  of 
Kansas,  Hon.  O.  E.  Butterfield  of  the  Detroit 
Bar,  and  Prof.  Francis  G.  Peabody  of  Harvard 
University  for  friendly  assistance  and  important 
suggestions,  though  these  gentlemen  are  not  re- 
sponsible for  any  of  the  opinions  here  set  forth. 


Joseph  H.  Crooker. 


Ann  Abbor,  Michigan, 

1903. 


692555 


PREFACE 

The  origin  of  this  book  is  to  be  found  in  the 
vote  of  the  Annual  Meeting  of  the  American 
Unitarian  Association,  adopted  on  May  21, 
1901,  wherein  it  was  — 

Voted,  To  request  the  President  to  appoint  a 
committee  of  the  Association  to  consider  and 
report  upon  the  condition  and  progress  of  un- 
sectarian  education  in  American  schools,  acade- 
mies, and  colleges. 

In  accordance  with  this  vote  the  President 
appointed  as  this  committee  Professor  Franklin 
W.  Hooper,  director  of  the  Brooklyn  Institute, 
Brooklyn,  N.Y.  ;  Professor  Samuel  C.  Derby, 
Ohio  State  University,  Columbus,  Ohio  j  Bev. 
Joseph  H.  Crooker,  Ann  Arbor,  Mich.  ;  Ellis 
Peterson,  Esq.,  supervisor  of  the  Boston  Public 
Schools;  Frederic  Winsor,  Esq.,  Middlesex 
School,  Concord,  Mass.  ;  Thomas  Q.  Browne, 
Esq.,  Morristown  School,  Morristown,  N.J.  ; 
Rev.  James  De  Normandie,  president  of  the 
trustees  of  the  Boxbury  Latin  School ;  Professor 


Viii  PREFACE 

Horatio  S.  White,  dean  of  Cornell  University, 
Ithaca,  N.T. ;  Harrison  O.  Apthorp,  Esq.,  Mil- 
ton Academy,  Milton,  Mass.  5  Professor  William 
H.  Carruth,  University  of  Kansas,  Lawrence, 
Kan.  ;  and  Mr.  J.  L.  Coolidge,  instructor  in 
Harvard  University.  This  committee  duly  or- 
ganized with  the  President  of  the  Association  as 
chairman,  and  Mr.  Coolidge  as  secretary. 

The  subjects  which  are  in  general  set  forth  in 
the  table  of  contents  of  this  volume  were  as- 
signed for  investigation  and  report  to  various 
sub- committees.  At  a  second  meeting  of  the 
committee,  these  sub- committees  reported  ;  and 
Dr.  Crooker  was  appointed  to  collate  and  edit 
these  statements,  and  to  write  a  preliminary  re- 
port to  be  presented  at  the  Annual  Meeting  of 
the  Association  in  1902.  This  preliminary  re- 
port was  duly  prepared  and  presented,  and  is  to 
be  found  printed  on  pages  36-42  of  the  Annual 
Eeport  of  the  American  Unitarian  Association 
for  1901-02.  Dr.  Crooker  was  then  commis- 
sioned to  amplify  this  report  for  publication  in 
book  form,  and  this  volume  is  the  result  of  his 
labor.  The  individual  members  of  the  commit- 
tee approved  the  preliminary  report  of  which 


PREFACE  ix 

this  book  is  the  amplification  ;  but  they  are  not 
individually  or  collectively  responsible  for  the 
conclusions  of  this  book,  which  represent  Dr. 
Oooker's  own  observation,  experience,  and 
judgment.  To  his  task  Dr.  Orooker  brings 
from  his  efficient  service  in  different  parts  of 
the  country,  and  especially  in  the  college  towns 
of  Madison,  Wis.,  and  Ann  Arbor,  Mich.,  a 
large  acquaintance  with  academic  life,  a  sym- 
pathy with  the  problems  and  needs  of  American 
college  students,  and  a  conviction  of  the  value 
of  democratic  principles.  His  habit  of  careful 
investigation  and  verification,  and  his  power  of 
clear  statement,  combine  with  this  experience  to 
entitle  him  to  an  expert  judgment  upon  the 
snbjects  treated  in  these  chapters.  The  book  is 
timely  and  significant,  and  its  facts  and  con- 
clusions are  commended  to  the  consideration  of 
all  who  are  interested  in  the  welfare  of  the 
American  Commonwealth. 

Samuel  A.  Eliot. 


CONTENTS 

PAGE. 

I.    The  Secular  State 3 

II.    Religious  Neutrality  in  Education       25 

III.  The  Bible  and  the  Public  Schools  .      53 

IV.  The    Religious    Motive   and   Higher 

Education 85 

V.    Keligion  in  Denominational  Institu- 
tions     105 

VI.    Normal    Schools   and   Agricultural 

Colleges 127 

VII.    The  State  Universities 141 

VIII.    Some  Interesting  Experiments  ...    163 

IX.    Conclusions  and  Recommendations   .    183 


THE  SECULAR  STATE 


THE   SECULAR   STATE 

One  of  the  great  problems  at  which  Protes- 
tants have  been  laboring  for  some  four  centuries 
has  been  the  creation  of  a  civil  government  that 
shall  administer  justice  between  man  and  man, 
guarantee  the  civil  and  religious  freedom  of 
every  individual,  andjsecure  the  education  of  all 
children  without  trampling  upon  the  religious 
rights  of  any  child.  The  Modern  State  in  ideal 
and  spirit  is  homocentric.  It  represents  an  ap- 
plication to  civic  affairs  of  the  wise  conviction 
that  spoke  in  the  notable  saying  :  "The  Sabbath 
was  made  for  man,  and  not  man  for  the  Sab- 
bath." Government  is  not  the  end,  but  the 
instrument  of  civilization.  In  olden  times  the 
individual  existed  for  the  sake  of  the  State  :  with 
us  the  State  exists  to  protect  and  perfect  the 
individual.  The  primary  condition  upon  which 
the  Protestant  sentiment  insists,  when  at  its  best, 
is  liberty, — freedom  of  investigation,  freedom  of 
worship,  freedom  of  industry,  freedom  of  educa- 

3 


4  RELIGIOUS  FREEDOM  IN 

tion.     The  end  in  view  is  a  fully  developed, 
self-governing,  public-spirited  human  life. 

The  time  was,  and  that  not  long  ago,  when 
the  State  not  only  had  religious  functions,  but. 
was  itself  a  religious  establishment.  Its  highest 
offices  were  filled  by  churchmen,  while  ecclesi- 
astics were  by  virtue  of  their  position  State 
officials.  The  policy  of  the  State  in  foreign 
relations  and  domestic  affairs  was  very  largely 
shaped  by  religious  interests.  The  State  took 
account  of  the  religious  beliefe  of  its  people,  it 
prohibited  sceptical  writings,  and  it  punished 
heresy  as  a  crime.  Its  wars  were  religious  wars  : 
its  treaties  were  ecclesiastical  documents.  Then 
all  schools  were  built  upon  religious  foundations. 
Their  chief  studies  were  theological,  and  their 
primary  aim  was  to  prepare  men  for  service  in 
the  church.  Education  was  in  those  days  an 
ecclesiastical  method  more  than  a  means  of 
human  development. 

The  movement  which  we  are  discussing  has, 
at  times,  made  very  slow  progress  among  Prot- 
estants; and  even  the  prominent  Eeformers 
often  imperfectly  understood  and  only  partially 
obeyed  the  great  principles  which  they  held  in 


AMERICAN  EDUCATION  5 

trust.  Moreover,  the  beginnings  of  this  move- 
ment antedate  the  Reformation  by  many  years. 
To  find  one  of  the  first  men  who  did  see  the 
great  truths  which  have  been  incorporated  into 
the  Modern  State,  we  have  to  go  back  to  Mar- 
silius  of  Padua,  who  in  1324  published  a  book, 
Defensor  Pacts,  influential  and  epoch-making,  in 
which  he  set  church  and  State  apart,  holding 
that  the  State  should  have  no  religious  func- 
tions and  the  priest  no  power  in  secular  affairs. 
This  was  the  prophecy  of  the  modern  Secular 
State. 

It  was  in  the  same  line  that  Wiclif,  "the 
Morning  Star  of  the  Eeformation, "  taught  a  half 
century  later  in  his  great  book,  De  Bominio 
Bivino.  The  central  theme  of  this  treatise  is  a 
discussion  of  the  origin  and  nature  of  spiritual 
and  secular  power.  He  denied  that  power  (or 
authority)  flows  solely  or  chiefly  through  sacra- 
ment and  hierarchy, — the  Catholic  claim;  and 
he  asserted  that  it  descends  directly  from  God  by 
grace  to  the  individual,  and  depends  upon  per- 
sonal service  and  true  ministry.  This  doctrine 
struck  at  the  root  of  all  tyrannies  in  State  and 
church,  and  made  Wiclif  a  good  deal  of  a  demo- 


6  RELIGIOUS  FREEDOM  IN 

crat,  or  even  socialist,  when  these  terms  were 
unknown. 

Finally,  in  the  space  of  a  little  over  fifty 
years,  in  the  sixteenth  century,  some  great 
events  for  freedom  occurred.  Luther's  heroism 
broke  the  chains  of  mediaeval  superstition, 
though  he  failed  to  make  reason  free  and  the 
gospel  independent  of  the  State.  But  Zwingli 
labored  with  a  more  rational  spirit ;  and  in 
England  Thomas  More  made,  in  Utopia,  a  plea 
for  religious  toleration,  which,  as  a  statesman, 
he  unfortunately  did  not  practise.  Then  Cas- 
tellio,  who  looked  on  in  sorrow  as  Calvin  burned 
Servetus  at  Geneva  in  1553,  raised  his  voice  in 
clear  and  earnest  denunciation  of  such  per- 
secutions for  opinion's  sake;  and  he  advocated 
the  widest  liberty  of  belief  for  all.  About  a 
dozen  years  later  William  of  Orange  in  the 
Netherlands  tried  hard  to  put  this  theory  into 
practice  as  a  State  policy.  In  Poland,  a  dozen 
years  still  later,  the  broad-minded  Socinus  was 
preaching  and  practising  this  glorious  doctrine 
of  freedom  in  religious  belief.  In  1568  Sigis- 
mund  went  far  beyond  his  age  in  an  act  granting 
religious  freedom  to  Hungary.     Then  soon  after 


AMERICAN  EDUCATION  7 

(1598)  in  France  came  the  "  Edict  of  Nantes," 
which  gave  liberty  of  conscience,  bnt  not  univer- 
sal freedom  of  worship. 

All  through  the  sixteenth  century,  however, 
Catholics  and  Protestants  were  cruelly  persecut- 
ing each  other.  Parties  within  the  Eomish 
Church  and  Protestant  sects  without  were  doing 
the  same  to  each  other.  The  story  is  long  and 
indescribably  mournful  and  horrible.  Some- 
thing was  here  and  there  gained  for  toleration, 
as  the  facts  just  stated  show ;  but  the  one  great 
truth  that  would  have  stopped  the  bloodshed 
had  not  been  established, —  that  the  State  cease 
to  undertake  to  regulate  the  religious  opinions  of 
the  people. 

But  a  beginning  in  this  direction  was  make  by 
Eobert  Browne  in  1584  by  his  little  pamphlet, 
True  and  Short  Declaration,  in  which  he  argued 
that  church  and  State  be  separated  for  the  good 
of  both  gospel  and  commonwealth.  Here  was  a 
view  of  religion  and  the  church  which  took  the 
gospel  out  of  bondage  to  both  priest  and  politi- 
cian and  retired  the  State  from  all  attempts  to 
coerce  its  citizens  in  matters  of  belief. 

This  was  the  first  of  what  may  be  called  the 


8  RELIGIOUS  FREEDOM  IN 

"Ten  Great  Words  "  for  religious  equality.  In 
1610  John  Eobinson  followed  with  his  Justifica- 
tion of  Separation,  arguing  the  case  more  in  detail 
than  Browne.  Eoger  Williams,  in  1644,  put 
into  print,  in  The  Bloody  Tenent  of  Persecution, 
the  doctrine  of  the  non-interference  of  the  State 
in  religion  which  he  had  been  preaching  for  ten 
years.  Soon  (1647)  Jeremy  Taylor  followed 
with  a  similar  plea  in  The  Liberty  of  Prophesying, 
2b  plea  for  a  free  preacher  in  a  free  pulpit.  In 
those  days  of  great  things  in  England  for  human 
rights,  Cromwell  took  advanced  ground  for  a 
free  press  and  the  freedom  of  religious  opinion, 
though  he  found  it  hard  to  practise  the  princi- 
ples of  liberty.  John  Milton,  in  1659,  carried 
forward  the  cause  of  freedom  which  he  had  long 
been  advocating  (Areopagitica  had  been  pub- 
lished in  1644)  in  his  work  on  Civil  Power  in 
Ecclesiastical  Causes.  A  dozen  years  later  Will- 
iam Penn  stated  a  needed  word  in  defence  of 
the  Friends  in  Liberty  of  Conscience.  Then  John 
Locke  rounded  out  this  generation  of  agitation 
in  his  Letters  on  Toleration  (1689). 

Nearly  a  century  later  we  come  upon  the  three 
giants  in  this  cause  of  human  freedom.     Yol- 


AMERICAN  EDUCATION  9 

taire's  intense  hatred  of  bigotry  and  oppression 
flashed  forth  in  1762  in  his  Treatise  on  Toleration. 
Lessing,  in  1779,  published  the  noblest  words  of 
all, — Nathan  the  Wise.  And,  about  the  time  our 
Federal  Constitution  was  being  framed,  the  great 
scientist,  Joseph  Priestley,  penned  his  Letter  to 
William  Pitt  on  Toleration.  Of  great  importance 
also  is  his  Essay  on  the  Principles  of  Government, 
1771,  sections  V.-VIII.  These  are  the  chief 
literary  expressions  of  the  conviction,  which 
finally  grew  to  mastery,  that  church  and  State 
must  be  separate,  and  that  all  men  must  be  left 
free  to  form  and  enjoy  their  own  religious  be- 
liefs. 

Besides  the  influences  of  this  literature  of 
freedom,  there  were  other  agencies  at  work 
which  led  the  Modern  State  to  a  more  or  less 
complete  abandonment  of  ecclesiastical  func- 
tions. 

Among  them  the  following  may  be  mentioned 
as  the  chief :  (1)  A  profound  change  in  the  atti- 
tude of  the  people  toward  Eome.  The  Eoman 
hierarchy  became  discredited,  especially  in  the 
sixteenth  century,  by  its  inability  to  provide  for 
the  higher  life  of  the  nations ;  and  a  popular 


10  RELIGIOUS  FREEDOM  IN 

conviction  grew  up  that  the  Papal  power  subor- 
dinated all  national  interests  and  the  general 
welfare  of  humanity  to  her  own  selfish  aggran- 
dizement. Eevolt  was  inevitable,  and  that  revolt 
shattered  the  ecclesiastical  ideal  of  government 
associated  with  the  Catholic  Church. 

(2)  The  consolidation  of  the  small  powers  of 
Western  Europe  into  great  nations  raised  up 
rulers  who,  in  becoming  conscious  of  their  own 
powers,  became  jealous  of  their  rights  ;  and,  in 
making  and  executing  plans  of  their  own,  they 
were  carried  into  opposition  against  Eome,  and 
toward  a  secular  ideal  and  policy. 

(3)  The  rise  to  power,  at  the  close  of  the 
Middle  Ages,  of  the  industrial  type  of  society 
tended  to  secularize  the  State  in  two  ways  : 
First,  the  energies  of  the  individual  were  liber- 
ated, and  each  man  became  conscious  of  the 
dignity  and  importance  of  his  own  life.  These 
centres  of  industrialism  were  the  homes  of  4 
sturdy  passion  for  liberty.  In  them  the  evils  of 
priestcraft  were  understood,  and  the  authority 
of  the  church  was  resisted.  And,  as  the  right  of 
private  opinion  began  to  be  realized,  the  conclu- 
sion was  inevitable  that  government  must  retire 


AMERICAN  EDUCATION  H 

from  the  control  of  religious  belief  to  the  mainte- 
nance of  civil  justice.  Second,  industrialism 
destroyed  the  acetic  spirit  and  the  sacerdotal 
ideal.  The  growing  prominence  of  economic 
interests  replaced  the  clerical  habits  of  thought 
with  a  secular  tone  and  temper,  and  people  be- 
gan to  feel  that  government  ought  to  devote  it- 
self to  the  affairs  of  this  world.  The  State  must 
not  only  be  the  guardian  of  freedom,  it  must 
foster  social  progress  and  temporal  interests. 
Thus  all  the  reactions  produced  by  commercial 
and  industrial  activities  carried  the  State  toward 
a  reduction  of  its  functions  to  secular  affairs. 

(4)  The  revival  of  learning  brought  forward 
the  classical  ideals  of  antiquity,  which  were  abso- 
lutely opposed  to  the  teachings  of  the  church 
respecting  individual  character  and  national 
duties.  The  increasing  study  of  Eoman  juris- 
prudence established  and  emphasized  the  idea 
of  natural  rights  in  the  place  of  the  dogma  of 
ecclesiastical  authority.  The  growth  of  the 
scientific  spirit  closely  associated  with  the  new 
learning,  by  destroying  belief  in  the  supersti- 
tions of  the  church,  brought  the  clerical  ideal 
into  discredit,  while  it  fostered  respect  for  the 


12  RELIGIOUS  FREEDOM  IN 

affairs  of  this  life  and  stimulated  temporal  activi- 
ties. 

(5)  The  multiplication  of  sects,  under  the  im- 
petus given  to  the  assertion  of  private  opinions 
by  Protestantism,  compelled  governments  to 
withdraw  from  ecclesiastical  affairs.  The  State, 
to  enjoy  any  peace  and  to  maintain  any  author- 
ity, was  forced  to  become  secular  when  its 
people  became  divided  into  several  rival  church 
organizations.  The  growth  of  sects  in  England 
has  gradually  secularized  the  government ;  for, 
though  an  established  church  continues  to  exist, 
yet  it  is  an  anachronism,  and  in  reality  civil  gov- 
ernment is  carried  forward  without  any  special 
reference  to  dogmatic  or  ecclesiastical  matters. 

The  co-operation  of  these  and  other  causes  has 
tended  to  secularize  the  Modern  State,  so  that 
civil  government  has  practically  become  inde- 
pendent of  the  church,  while  the  affairs  of  relig- 
ion have  been  removed  more  and  more  from 
political  control  to  private  management.  There 
have  been  no  religious  wars  since  the  peace  of 
Westphalia  in  1648.  Ecclesiastics  hardly  ever 
occupy  civil  offices,  and  church  interests  have  no 
prominence  in  political  movements.     Through- 


AMERICAN  EDUCATION  13 

out  the  civilized  world  the  civil  power  has  prac- 
tically ceased  to  punish  heresy  as  a  crime ;  and, 
outside  of  Bussia,  hardly  any  State  attempts  to 
exercise  censorship  over  the  press  in  matters 
pertaining  to  religion. 

The  work  of  Eoger  Williams,  John  Locke,  and 
other  kindred  spirits,  for  the  secularization  of 
the  State,  is  too  well  known  to  need  descrip- 
tion. Eeference  has  already  been  made  to  their 
writings.  In  Germany  Puffendorf  "  drove  the 
theologians  out  of  political  science  and  founded 
a  purely  lay  theory  of  the  State,'7  while  Freder- 
ick the  Great  "was  the  first  to  emancipate 
Europe  religiously  and  to  create  the  purely 
Secular  State. "  The  French  Eevolution,  with 
bloody  hands,  tore  asunder  the  bonds  which 
united  church  and  State,  and  laid  bare  the  natu- 
ral rights  of  man  as  the  true  basis  of  government, 
which,  in  the  words  of  Locke,  must  derive  its 
power  from  the  people  and  use  it  for  the  people. 

Frederic  Harrison  has  well  stated  the  spirit 
and  object  of  the  Modern  State:  "  About  all  the 
functions  of  the  State  there  runs  one  common 
characteristic :  in  the  first  place,  they  concern 
men  in  their  material  lives,  in  the  free  employ- 


14  RELIGIOUS  FREEDOM  IN 

ment  of  their  industry,  and  the  facilities  of  com- 
mon intercourse.  In  the  second  place,  they  act 
in  material  ways  by  the  arm,  ultimately,  of  the 
policeman  and  the  turnkey  :  they  stand  apart 
from  the  sphere  of  persuasion,  they  act  only 
when  the  mass  of  the  citizens  are  practically 
agreed. "  What  a  nation  simply  as  a  people 
may  need  or  be  is  one  thing  :  what  they  may  see 
fit  to  do  through  their  government  is  quite 
another  thing. 

It  is  well  for  a  nation  as  a  people  to  have  a 
ch  and  vigorous  religious  life  ;  but  the  modern 
spirit  has  determined  that  the  cultivation  of  the 
religious  life  is  not  one  of  the  functions  of  civil 
government.  The  celebrated  argument  of  Mr. 
Gladstone,  which  even  Lord  Macaulay  so  in- 
adequately answered,  is  fatally  weak  at  this 
point.  It  fails  to  take  any  account  of  the  pro- 
found difference  between  the  corporate  life  of 
the  nation  and  the  functions  of  civil  government. 
We  are  a  Christian  Nation  in  a  certain  sense, 
considered  solely  as  a  people;  but  the  govern- 
ment of  the  United  States  is  neither  Christian 
nor  infidel :  it  is  simply  non-religious. 

In  the  United  States,   by  a  more    peaceful 


- 


AMERICAN  EDUCATION  15 

process  than  that  followed  in  Europe,  our  Bevo- 
lutionary  fathers  established,  not  simply  uni- 
versal toleration,  but  perfect  religious  equality, 
by  making  it  unconstitutional  for  any  State  to 
enact  any  law  respecting  an  establishment  of 
religion.  The  civil  government  of  our  land  is 
subject  to  no  ecclesiastical  dictation,  and  the 
churches  within  our  borders  are  subject  to  no 
civil  authority  in  matters  of  belief.  We  have 
practically  realized  this  Secular  Ideal.  With 
us  not  only  are  church  and  State  absolutely 
separate  from  each  other :  the  State  attempts 
no  religious  functions  and  possesses  no  religious 
dogma. 

It  is  well  for  churchmen  in  America,  when 
they  seek  to  interfere  in  civil  affairs,  to  remember 
that  they  are  given  freedom  in  religion  upon 
condition  that  they  leave  the  State  free  in  its 
specific  work.  If  they  do  not  want  the  State  to 
supervise  its  affairs,  they  must  leave  the  State 
absolutely  free  in  its  legislative  and  educational 
work. 

The  Secular  State  is,  therefore,  in  the  United 
States,  an  accomplished  fact,  thanks  especially 
to  the  wisdom  of  such  men  as  Franklin,  Jeffer- 


./ 


16  RELIGIOUS  FREEDOM  IN 

son,  and  Madison.  And  our  civil  institutions 
have,  and  can  have,  no  ecclesiastical  duties  or 
spiritual  offices.  And,  while  some  of  our  courts 
have  held  that  Christianity  is,  in  a  certain  way, 
the  law  of  the  land,  yet  these  decisions  have  in 
the  main  been  very  vague  ;  and,  so  far  as  any  of 
them  have  taken  ground  against  the  purely 
secular  theory  of  our  government,  they  have 
misstated  the  genius  of  our  institutions,  while 
they  have  been  condemned  by  the  manifest  des- 
tiny and  essential  spirit  of  our  National  Life. 

It  is  often  urged  that  Christianity  is  a  part  of 
the  law  of  the  land,  because  our  Puritan  fore- 
fathers tried  to  set  up  on  these  shores  a  theocracy 
based  upon  the  pattern  found  in  the  Scriptures. 
But  people  who  so  argue  forget  that  the  experi- 
ment, in  this  respect,  was  a  failure.  They  forget 
also  the  history  that  we  have  made  since  that 
day.  And  what  great  men  said  on  this  subject 
before  we  as  a  Nation  had  completed  our  politi- 
cal evolution  toward  our  manifest  destiny  as  a 
Secular  State  is  of  no  value  or  authority.  Some 
things  which  cannot  be  ignored  have  happened 
since  the  days  of  John  Cotton  or  even  Daniel 
Webster. 


AMERICAN  EDUCATION  17 

And  the  position  of  Christianity  in  New  Eng- 
land two  centuries  ago  is  no  more  a  precedent 
for  us  who  live  to-day  than  the  behavior  of  the 
men  of  that  age  respecting  witches  or  heretics  is 
a  rule  of  action  binding  upon  us.  This  question 
cannot  be  settled  by  appeal  to  precedent  or 
technicality  or  the  authority  of  great  names,  but 
by  the  essential  and  inherent  genius  or  character 
of  our  people,  as  it  progressively  discloses  itself 
in  our  National  Life.  And  the  one  thing  that 
becomes  clearer  and  clearer  is  that  public  opin- 
ion, social  custom,  and  civil  policy  are  declaring 
more  and  more  emphatically  for  the  Secular 
Ideal. 

We  must  also  remember,  what  is  so  often  for- 
gotten even  by  distiDguished  writers  upon  this 
subject,  that  there  is  a  vast  difference  between 
what  we,  as  a  people,  may  be  in  religion  and 
what  our  civil  institutions,  as  parts  of  the  gov- 
ernment, may  attempt.  The  great  importance 
of  this  truth,  to  which  reference  has  already 
been  made,  makes  another  and  fuller  statement 
of  it  not  inappropriate.  As  a  people,  taken  in 
a  mass,  it  is  fair  to  say  that  we  are  a  Christian 
community ;  but  to  the  government  which  we 


18  RELIGIOUS  FREEDOM  IN 

maintain  we  give  no  religious  quality  or  func- 
tion. It  is  proper  to  say  that  we  are  a  Christian 
people  :  it  is  not  proper  to  affirm  that  we  are  a 
Christian  Nation.  It  is  equally  improper  to  say 
that  we  have  a  godless  or  irreligious  government. 
The  fact  is  that,  with  us,  the  State  simply  stands 
apart  from  these  matters  in  absolute  neutrality. 
Here  is  a  department  of  human  life  from  which 
civil  government  retires,  not  because  it  is  unim- 
portant, but  because  it  is  better  for  all  interests 
that  the  field  be  left  free  from  political  super- 
vision. 

The  religious  beliefs  of  our  people  and  the 
popular  estimate  of  the  Bible  do  not  come  into 
the  discussion  of  the  question  respecting  the  secu- 
larization of  the  Modern  State,  because  the  civil 
government  has  ceased  to  exercise  religious  func- 
tions. And  this  movement  is  not  only  irresist- 
ible, but  beneficent.  As  Mr.  Lecky  remarks, 
"The  secularization  of  politics  is  the  measure 
and  the  condition  of  all  political  prosperity." 
And  we  may  well  add  that  the  separation  of  the 
church  from  the  State  is  the  measure  and  condi- 
tion of  all  religious  prosperity.  The  only  way 
to  make  piety  real  and  vital  is  to  take  it  out  of 


AMERICAN  EDUCATION  1£ 

the  reach  of  officialism  and  locate  it  in  the  in- 
dividual heart. 

The  Secular  State  is,  then,  no  sudden  creation, 
the  freak  of  frenzied  enemies  of  religion.  It  has 
come  out  of  the  slowly  accumulating  experiences 
of  mankind,  as  the  political  spirit  has  carefully 
and  laboriously  gone  forward  in  its  earnest  quest 
for  a  government  that  at  the  same  time  shall  be 
best  for  the  individual  and  for  society,  that  shall 
give  the  church  the  largest  possibilities  and  the 
State  the  greatest  political  efficiency.  The  Secu- 
lar State  is,  too,  the  creation  of  religious  men, 
who  have  persevered  in  their  course  with  noble 
heroism  in  the  face  of  persecutions,  and  who 
have  worked  with  large  views  of  humanity  and  in 
obedience  to  the  manifest  teachings  of  history  to 
fashion  a  government  where  politics  shall  be  free 
from  religious  hatreds,  and  where  the  church 
shall  be  free  from  the  despotisms  and  the  corrup- 
tions of  politics.  We  may  lament,  we  may 
denounce  ;  but  the  Secular  State  is  the  expres- 
sion and  the  outcome  of  a  resistless  tendency 
which  will  crush  any  man  or  institution  that 
stands  in  its  way  and  attempts  to  impede  its 
progress. 


20  RELIGIOUS  FREEDOM  IN 

That  we  have  in  the  United  States  of  America 
always  been  true  to  the  spirit  of  freedom  cannot 
be  truthfully  claimed.  That  we  have  in  all  re- 
spects reached  the  ideal  of  the  Secular  State  can- 
not be  successfully  maintained.  Survivals  of  the 
ancient  order  remain  in  different  parts  of  our 
land.  Laws  now  exist  here  and  there  and  meth- 
ods still  persist  that  violate  the  basic  principles 
of  our  free  government. 

^  The  following  facts,  however,  show  that  we 
have,  in  the  main,  been  loyal  to  the  spirit  of  lib- 
erty. The  Constitution  of  the  United  States 
forbids  the  enactment  of  laws  establishing  any 
religion.  Twenty-eight  States  forbid  the  giving 
of  any  preference  by  law  to  any  sect  or  to  any 
denominational  mode  of  worship.  Twenty-five 
States  prohibit  the  use  of  public  funds  for  sec- 
tarian institutions  or  purposes,  or  especially  the 
use  of  the  public  school  fund  for  such  purposes. 
In  twenty-six  State  constitutions  it  is  provided 
that  no  one  shall  be  compelled  to  pay  for  the 
support  of  any  church  or  minister  save  by  his 
own  consent.  Twenty  States  expressly  guarantee 
the  freedom  of  conscience.  No  State  is  wholly 
without  some  provision  of  this  sort. 


AMERICAN  EDUCATION  21 

From  these  and  various  other  guarantees  and 
prohibitions  of  State  and  National  constitutions, 
it  seems  justifiable  to  declare  that  the  spirit  of 
American  institutions  is  profoundly  opposed  to 
the  union  of  church  and  State  in  any  shape  or 
form, — to  the  use  of  the  power  and  property  of 
the  whole  people  for  or  against  the  religious 
beliefs  and  institutions  of  any  part  of  the 
people. 


RELIGIOUS  NEUTRALITY  IN 
EDUCATION 


RELIGIOUS  NEUTRALITY  IN    EDUCA- 
TION 

There  is  a  force  at  work  in  our  country  at  the 
heart  of  human  affairs  which  shapes  our  govern- 
ment, creates  public  opinion,  rules  the  common 
mind,  and  points  the  way  to  progress.  It  is 
what  we  may  call  the  "  American  Idea,' *  because 
it  has  found  its  clearest  expression  here,  though 
it  is  a  motive  power  which  is  at  work  everywhere 
in  modern  society.  And  what  is  the  American 
Idea?  It  is  a  new  conception  of  the  basis  of 
social  union  and  the  function  of  human  govern- 
ment. This  theory  of  the  State  as  a  purely 
secular  institution  has  nowhere  been  better  de- 
scribed than  by  Bluntschli  :  "The  modern  idea 
of  the  State  is  not  religious,  though  it  is  not  irre- 
ligious. .  .  .  Modern  political  science  does  not 
profess  to  comprehend  the  ways  of  God,  but 
endeavors  to  understand  the  State  as  a  human 
institution.  .  .  .  The  Modern  State  does  not  con- 
sider religion  a  condition  of  legal  status,  .  .  .  but 

25 


26  RELIGIOUS  FREEDOM  IN 

develops  the  common  freedom  of  citizenship  in 
all  classes  and  compels  every  one  to  snbmit  to  its 
authority. "  The  American  Idea  means  a  gov- 
ernment organized  on  the  basis  of  universal 
humanity,  to  guard  common  rights  and  to  pro- 
mote the  welfare  and  progress  of  all  men. 

The  American  theory  of  civil  government 
which  gives  us  the  Secular  State  also  gives  us 
the  secular  Public  School.  The  secularization 
of  the  State  involves  and  necessitates  the  secu- 
larization of  its  schools.  Says  Professor  "William 
H.  Payne,  a  prominent  American  educator, 
"The  neutrality,  or  absolute  non-theological 
character  of  the  school,  in  all  its  grades,  is  but 
the  application  to  the  school  of  a  rule  that  has 


prevailed  in  all  our  social  institutions."  The 
conclusion  is  self-evident.  The  State  must  have 
schools  to  educate  its  children,  for  no  State  can 
long  endure  whose  children  are  not  educated  in 
hearty  sympathy  with  its  institutions  and  in 
accord  with  its  own  fundamental  principles. 
But,  as  the  Secular  State,  which  our  Nation  is, 
by  manifest  destiny  and  by  the  express  decla- 
ration of  its  fundamental  law,  has  no  religion, 
it  follows,  as  a  necessity,   that  its  school  can 


AMERICAN  EDUCATION  27 

rightfully  and  lawfully  have  no  religious  instruc- 
tion whatever.  There  is  no  possible  escape  from 
this  logic.  "  Compulsory  support,  by  taxation 
or  otherwise,  of  religious  instruction,  is  not  law- 
ful under  any  of  the  American  constitutions,"  is 
the  conclusion  of  Judge  Thomas  M.  Cooley,  one 
of  America's  greatest  jurists. 

To  demand  that  there  be  religious  instruction 
in  our  Public  Schools  is  virtually  to  demand 
that  the  State  shall  cease  to  be  secular  by  estab- 
lishing a  religion  and  becoming  ecclesiastical. 
Logically,  there  is  no  stopping  short  of  a  State 
religion,  if  religious  instruction  is  insisted  upon 
in  the  Public  Schools ;  for  how  can  a  State  school 
teach  religion  when  the  State  itself  has  no  relig- 
ion 1  The  primary  question  is  :  Shall  the  State 
be  secular  or  ecclesiastical?  The  school  ques- 
tion is  a  minor  problem  dependent  upon  this.  If 
we  put  religious  instruction  into  the  schools,  we 
cannot  logically  stop  until  we  put  the  religious 
dogma  taught  into  our  Constitution;  but  this 
would  destroy  our  Secular  State.  Let,  then, 
every  man  who  is  in  favor  of  religious  instruc- 
tion in  our  Public  Schools  consider  well  the 
implication  of  his  demand.     Does  he  want  a 


28  RELIGIOUS  FREEDOM  IN 

State  Eeligion  I  If  not,  then  his  request  is  per- 
fectly illogical. 

It  is  our  duty  as  American  citizens  not  only 
squarely  to  face  this  issue,  but  to  keep  it  clearly 
before  us.  The  greatness  of  the  problem  cannot 
be  exaggerated ;  for  on  it  hangs  the  destiny  not 
only  of  our  American  system  of  government,  but 
of  modern  civilization  itself.  At  the  bottom,  it 
is  not  a  question  of  Bible-reading,  or  of  the  fort- 
unes of  a  particular  statute,  or  even  of  moral  and 
religious  education.  The  question  is  whether 
we  shall  maintain  the  Modern  State  as  a  secular 
institution  and  its  necessary  function  of  secular 
education,  or  whether  we  shall  surrender  to 
clericalism  and  turn  human  progress  back  four 
centuries ! 

Let  us,  then,  clear  away  all  these  mere  details 
about  the  teaching  of  ethics  and  the  reading  of 
Scripture,  and  face  the  real  issue  with  clear  eye 
and  sober  judgment.  We  need  to  recognize 
that  the  perpetuity  of  civil  liberty  and  modern 
civilization  depends  upon  the  maintenance  of  the 
Public  School  with  its  free  instruction,  neutral 
toward  all  theological  questions ;  and  we  need 
also  to  recognize  that  the  opposition  to  our  sys- 


AMERICAN  EDUCATION  29 

tern  of  secular  education  is  deep-seated  and  far- 
reaching.  Surrender^  to  this  opposition  means 
the  extinction  of  American  liberty,  and  any 
compromise  that  shall  impair  the  efficiency  and 
sovereignty  of  American  citizenship  means  an 
eclipse  of  humanity.  We  must  discuss  this  ques- 
tion in  a  large  way,  without  passion  and  with- 
out prejudice,  but  with  a  full  appreciation  of  the 
magnitude  of  the  issue,  and  a  clear  realization 
of  the  intent  and  strength  of  the  opposition. 

The  point  to  be  kept  constantly  in  mind  and 
strongly  emphasized  is  this  :  The  Secular  State, 
from  reasons  both  of  justice  and  of  policy,  with- 
draws from  the  sphere  of  human  thought  and 
action  that  we  call  religious ;  and,  having  with- 
drawn, it  cannot  rightfully  and  lawfully  enter 
it  again  in  the  direction  of  religious  education, 
for  the  State  cannot  carry  any  religion  into  the 
school-house  until  it  adopts  a  religion,  and  then 
it  would  cease  to  be  secular.  The  American 
Nation  is  the  enemy  of  no  religion,  but  the 
friend  of  all  faiths  ;  the  patron  and  partner  of 
no  church,  but  the  protector  of  all  churches. 

But  there  are  Protestants  who  seem  to  forget 
this  important  truth.     Eev.  Dr.  A.  A.  Hodge 


30  RELIGIOUS  FREEDOM  IN 

strangely  asserted  some  ten  years  ago,  "The 
system  of  Public  Schools  must  be  held,  in  their 
sphere,  true  to  the  claims  of  Christianity,  or 
they  must  go,  with  all  other  enemies  of  Christ, 
to  the  wall.'7  But  the  schools  of  a  Secular 
State  can  have  nothing  to  do  with  the  super- 
natural, or  with  any  other,  claims  of  relig- 
ion. To  be  non- denominational  is  not  enough  : 
they  must  teach  no  religious  dogma.  Yet,  in 
taking  this  position,  they  become  enemies  of 
nothing  but  intolerance  and  superstition. 

In  this  fact,  that  the  State  is  secular,  lies  the 
answer  to  those  who  favor  providing  various 
kinds  of  religious  instruction  in  our  common 
schools,  according  to  the  religious  beliefs  of  the 
families  represented.  The  State  can  no  more 
have  a  multiform  religion  than  a  single  estab- 
lished faith.  It  can  no  more  teach  three  dogmas 
about  God  than  one ;  for  as  a  Secular  State,  it 
has  relinquished  all  teaching  in  that  direction. 
In  this  fact,  also,  lies  the  answer  to  those  who 
are  asking  for  a  division  of  the  public  funds 
among  denominational  schools.  To  tax  people 
in  order  to  support  denominational  schools  is  an 
ecclesiastical  business  :  it  is  becoming  a  party  to 


AMERICAN  EDUCATION  31 

religious  instruction.  And  a  Secular  State  can 
engage  in  no  such  business  :  it  can  never  be  the 
agent  of  any  religious  organization. 

There  is  one  thing  in  this  connection  often 
overlooked,  to  which  attention  needs  to  be  called. 
The  Boman  Catholic  argument  against  secular 
schools  is,  in  its  essential  nature  and  by  logical 
implication,  an  argument  against  the  Secular 
State.  The  Catholic  demand,  if  allowed,  would 
compel  our  government  to  go  to  Eome  for  orders 
respecting  everything,  and  so  surrender  not 
only  its  essential  functions  of  education,  but  its 
very  existence  as  an  independent  institution. 
The  Catholics  have,  primarily,  the  same  objec- 
tion to  godless  governments  as  to  godless  schools. 
They  hold  to  De  Maistre's  ideal, — that  the 
spiritual  power  ought  to  control  the  temporal 
power.  Their  objections,  brought  against  the 
secular  schools,  are  equally  applicable  to  the 
secular  character  of  the  Nation  itself ;  and  the 
Papal  Hierarchy,  victorious  over  the  Public 
Schools,  would  not  be  satisfied  until  it  destroyed 
the  Secular  State. 

If  the  Catholics  succeed  in  closing  the  Public 
Schools,  they  will  restate  and  reapply  their  old 


32  RELIGIOUS  FREED 031  IN 

argument,  thus  :  We  object  to  paying  taxes  to 
support  a  godless  State.  No  compromise  will 
satisfy  them, — neither  rejecting  the  Bible  nor  in- 
troducing the  primary  affirmations  of  universal 
religion.  Eome  temporarily  accepts  the  inevi- 
table, but  never  compromises.  The  real  question 
at  the  bottom  of  all  this  agitation  is,  Shall  we 
maintain  our  Secular  State,  or  go  back  to  the 
Dark  Ages?  Whenever  discussing  the  school 
question,  we  must  always  remember  that  it  is 
only  a  subordinate  part  of  that  larger  problem. 
And  it  will  be  well  if  careless  critics  of  our  Pub- 
lic Schools  lay  to  heart  in  this  connection  a  sol- 
emn warning.  Let  such  persons  remember  that 
by  these  very  denunciations  they  are  putting  a 
club  into  the  hands  of  clerical  opponents  by 
which  they  will  strive  to  strike  down,  not  simply 
the  secular  school,  but  the  Secular  State.  They 
even  now  quote  with  great  glee  these  Protestant 
criticisms  of  the  Public  Schools. 

Our  secular  schools  are  far  from  perfect ;  but, 
on  the  whole,  they  are  the  best  that  the 
world  has  ever  had,  and  their  underlying 
policy  must  be  maintained  if  we  keep  the 
Secular    State.     So,    unless    one  wishes   to  be- 


AMERICAN  EDUCATION  33 

come  a  coadjutor  of  Boine,  let  Mm  support 
and  improve,  but  not  malign,  the  common  school 
system.  The  American  State  guarantees  to  all 
the  right  to  believe  as  they  see  fit  respecting  re- 
ligious problems,  but  it  grants  to  none  the  lib- 
erty to  imperil  its  own  life.  As  the  State,  by 
manifest  destiny  and  organic  law,  is  secular  j  as 
it  must  educate  its  children  to  preserve  and  per- 
petuate its  own  life  j  and  as  its  schools  must  be 
as  secular  as  its  own  character,  having  no  re- 
ligion of  its  own  to  put  into  its  system  of  educa- 
tion,—  it  follows  of  necessity  that  an  attack  upon 
our  Public  Schools  is,  by  implication,  an  attack 
upon  our  form  of  government.  Every  one  is  free 
to  criticise  the  schools  for  their  improvement, 
but  no  one  has  any  right  to  attack  them  in  order 
to  destroy  them  and  the  Secular  State  which 
stands  behind  them.  ISTo  one  has  a  right  to 
strike  at  the  life  of  the  Modern  State  by  striking 
at  the  secular  Public  School,  which  is  a  vital 
organ  of  the  Modern  State,  embodying  its  pri- 
mary principles  and  guarding  its  most  precious 
interests. 

The  objection  is  made  that  the  Public  School, 
as  at  present  conducted,  is  godless.     But  a  sec- 


34  RELIGIOUS  FREEDOM  IN 

ular  school  is  no  more  godless  than  a  Secular 
State  j  and,  if  the  children  belonging  to  any 
church  must  leave  the  Public  School  because 
it  does  not  teach  dogma,  why  ought  not  their 
parents  to  leave  the  United  States  because  as 
a  [Nation  we  have  no  creed?  And  yet,  why 
should  the  simple  teaching  of  reading,  grammar, 
and  mathematics,  be  called  godless?  Is  a  tem- 
perance convention  godless  because  not  held 
under  the  shadow  of  a  crucifix?  What  truth 
is  there  in  the  claim  that  fractions  and  the  cate- 
chism can  be  most  successfully  taught  only  when 
they  are  taught  together  ?  Will  not  the  ritual 
take  effect  unless  accompanied  by  the  multipli- 
cation table  ?  There  certainly  is  no  ground  for 
calling  the  purely  secular  Public  School  godless  j 
nor  is  there  any  reason  in  the  nature  of  things 
why  secular  knowledge  and  religious  dogma 
must  accompany  each  other,  in  order  that  both 

be  made  effectual. 

i 
The  character  and  influence  of  our  Public 

Schools    are    shaped    and    determined    by   the 

teachers  who  preside  over  them.     Who,  then, 

are  American  teachers  I    Look  at  the  men  and 

women  who  come  together  in  State  and  ^National 


AMERICAN  EDUCATION  35 

teachers'  associations.  Who  are  they?  The 
most  thoughtful,  earnest,  hard-working,  pains- 
taking, and  self-sacrificing  class  in  the  State. 
In  intelligence,  singleness  of  purpose,  purity  of 
life,  there  is  not  a  priesthood  in  the  world  that 
outranks  them ;  and  there  are  few  that  equal 
them.  Is  it  not  a  frightful  slander  to  call  our 
Public  Schools  irreligious,  when,  in  fact,  they 
are  taught  by  as  noble  and  saintly  a  band  of 
workers  as  ever  consecrated  themselves  to  the 
service  of  humanity  f         *i&f** ' 

It  is  impossible  to  make  the  American  people 
believe  that  our  secular  schools  are  turning  our 
land  into  a  Sodom,  as  eminent  ecclesiastics  un- 
fortunately declare,  so  long  as  they  are  under 
the  direction  of  such  men  and  women.  ~Kov  can 
we  set  a  system  down  as  a  failure  which  has 
given  us  our  Websters,  Garfields,  Greeleys,  our 
Garrisons,  Parkers,  and  Whittiers.  And  it  is 
a  shame  to  call  our  schools  godless,  when  taught 
by  such  noble  men  and  women  as  those  who 
form  the  great  army  of  Public  School  teachers, 
among  whom  may  be  found  devout  persons  of 
every  faith  in  the  land.  God  may  not  be  there 
in  the  dead  words  of  a  dogmatic  catechism  ;  but 


36  RELIGIOUS  FREED 031  IN 

he  is  there  in  the  heart  and  brain  of  the  true 
teacher,  which  is  infinitely  better.  There  is 
nothing  so  godless  as  the  imposition  of  dogma 
which  paralyzes  the  growing  reason  of  a  child. 

There  are  churchmen  who  contend  that  their 
people  ought  to  be  relieved  from  the  burden  of 
the  unjust  taxation  imposed  upon  them  for  the 
support  of  the  Public  School,  because  they  already 
support  parochial  schools  of  their  own.  Let  us 
look  carefully  and  candidly  at  this  matter.  The 
State  exists  to  protect  life  and  property  and  to 
promote  the  temporal  welfare  of  mankind,  and 
for  these  ends  it  works  through  certain  methods 
and  agencies,  which  begin  with  the  exercise  of 
suffrage ;  and  whatever  means  are  needed  for 
these  ends  the  State  must  use.  So  that  the  State 
taxes  all,  in  order  to  give  every  child  that  knowl- 
edge most  needed  by  an  American  citizen,  this 
much  being  necessary  to  insure  intelligent  citi- 
zenship. This  right  the  State  has  j  and,  if  true 
to  itself,  it  must  exercise  it. 

"When  the  churchman  objects  that  it  is  unjust 
to  tax  him  to  support  what  he  cannot  use,  he 
takes  a  position  which  the  State  must  ignore  ;  for 
it  has  no  right  to  sit  in  judgment  upon  the  relig- 


AMERICAN  EDUCATION  37 

ions  beliefs  of  its  citizens,  in  order  to  make  sneh 
distinctions  between  them.  Moreover,  by  this 
claim  the  churchman  pnts  himself  above  the  au- 
thority of  the  State,  which  in  matters  pertaining 
to  citizenship  must  be  supreme.  A  body  of 
people  cannot  be  excused  from  jsaying^taxes  to 
support  courts  and  poorhouses  on^  the_j>Lea  that 
they  have  religious  scruples  against  making  use 
of  them  or  because  they take care  qfjfcheinjiwn 
poor  and  never  go  to^law.  Whatever  hardships 
come  to  the  members  of  any  religious  body  in 
this  connection  are  self-imposed  by  a  religious  ^ 
belief;  of  which  the  ^atej£ajQ^ake_jQii_ai3conjit- 
and  wi^whic&jjMjaj^  The 

State  protects  all  forms  of  religion,  but  it  must  stop 
there  :  it  cannot  take  cognizance  of  religious  be-  v 
liefe,  which  traverse  its  own  rights,  in  order  to 
absolve  citizens    from  their  responsibilities  of 
citizenship. 

There  are  those  who,  assuming  to  speak  in  be- 
half of  the  family,  claim  that  the  secular  school 
interferes  with  the  right  of  parents  to  give  their 
children  a  religious  education.  It  is  true  that 
the  parent  has  sole  guardianship  of  the  child  as 
a  social  and  religious  being  :  this  special  paren- 


38  RELIGIOUS  FREEDOM  IN 

tal  right  the  State  must  respect.  But  children 
are  also  citizens  in  embryo,  and  in  that  respect 
they  are  children  of  the  State.  The  State  is 
bound  to  protect  them  in  all  their  civil  estate  : 
it  has  a  prospective  claim  upon  their  services  in 
case  of  war' j  it  is  responsible  for  their  training  in 
citizenship,  because  it  must  protect  its  own  life 
and  provide  for  the  perpetuity  of  its  own  insti- 
tutions. And  this  claim  upon  the  child  as  a 
prospective  citizen  is,  in  a  way,  superior  to  all 
parental  rights,  though  not  in  conflict  with 
them.  The  State  has  a  claim  upon  the  child  in 
the  line  of  citizenship  which  the  parent  must  re- 
spect. But  the  rights  of  the  parent  to  deter- 
mine and  guide  the  religious  training  of  his 
children  are  not  menaced  by  the  State's  asser- 
tion of  its  own  claim  respecting  education. 
And  it  is  certainly  a  curious  spectacle  to  see 
churchmen  who  recognize  no  liberty  of  private 
judgment  in  religious  matters,  and  grant  parents 
no  freedom  whatever  for  themselves  or  their 
children,  condemning  the  State  because  it  de- 
stroys parental  freedom, — what  they  themselves 
do  not  grant ! 

It  is  true  that  we  have  not  everywhere  se- 


AMERICAN  EDUCATION  39 

cured  religious  neutrality  in  the  Public  Schools. 
There  are  localities  where  chapel  exercises  of  a 
very  definite  theological  character  are  still  held, 
attendance  upon  which  is  compulsory.  There 
are  schools  where  the  Bible  is  read  as  a  part  of 
a  religious  service.  There  are  places  where  the 
religious  beliefs  of  teachers  are  taken  into  ac- 
count by  school  boards,  and  persons  of  certain 
types  of  faith  are  discriminated  against.  There 
are  American  cities  where  public  funds,  belong- 
ing to  the  common  schools,  are  paid  to  members 
of  religious  orders,  who  teach  church  schools  in 
buildings  owned  by  the  church  and  not  by  the 
State.  There  are  other  cities  in  our  land  where 
teachers  are  not  allowed  to  teach  the  plainest 
facts  of  history  in  connection  with  the  story  of 
the  Eeformation !  But  these  are  exceptional 
cases.  The  movement  in  education  is  not  toward 
these  things,  but  away  from  them. 

President  J.  G.  Schurman,  of  Cornell  Univer- 
sity, has  recently  proposed  a  plan  by  which  the 
Public  Schools  and  the  churches  might  work  to- 
gether for  moral  and  religious  instruction.  His 
thought  is  that,  in  the  present  state  of  religion  in 
America,  Protestants  might  unite  for  this  pur- 


* 


40  RELIGIOUS  FREED OM  IN 

pose.  In  a  town  in  which  there  are  several  re- 
ligious denominations,  he  would  have  the  board 
of  education  invite  the  clergy  to  arrange  a  plan 
for  religious  instruction,  and  place  at  their  dis- 
posal a  portion  of  time  each  day  in  which  all 
other  school  work  should  be  suspended  and  all 
pupils  who  were  willing  should  attend  the  in- 
struction given  by  the  clergy.  He  would  have 
the  same  provision  made  for  Eoman  Catholics  in 
towns  where  they  desired  it.  President  Schur- 
man  believes  that  a  profitable  alliance  might 
thus  be  arranged  between  the  churches  and 
the  schools. 

The  objections  to  such  a  plan  as  this  proposed 
by  President  Schurman,  and  approved  by  some 
other  eminent  educators  in  our  country,  are 
numerous  and  weighty  :  (a)  The  Public  Schools 
are  already  overcrowded  with  topics  of  study 
and  courses  of  instruction.  This  would  greatly 
increase  a  burden  now  already  excessive.  It 
would  involve  the  use  of  time  which  the  teacher 
needs  for  the  specific  work  of  the  school. 

(p)  This  policy  would  work  injury  in  another 
direction.  The  thing  most  imperative  to-day 
is  to  hold  the  home  and  the  church  responsible 


AMERICAN  EDUCATION  41 

for  the  moral  and  religious  training  of  the 
young.  What  we  need  everywhere  at  present  is 
increasing  emphasis  in  this  direction.  The  par- 
ent and  the  preacher  must  be  stirred  to  new 
activity.  They  ought  to  be  made  to  feel  that 
here  is  a  work  that  they  must  not  shirk,  that 
they  must  not  hand  over  to  another  agency. 
The  plan  proposed  would  still  farther  weaken 
parental  responsibility  in  this  line.  It  would 
also  unfortunately  lessen  the  sense  of  obligation 
in  the  church. 

(c)  The  attempt  to  carry  out  this  policy 
would  postpone  the  realization  of  the  religious 
unity  toward  which  we  have  recently  made  such 
satisfactory  progress.  Instead  of  promoting,  it 
would  lessen  the  friendliness  which  now  exists 
among  the  churches.  We  should  soon  lose  the 
fairest  gain  of  the  last  century,  and  the  now  ex- 
tinct volcanoes  of  prejudice  and  intolerance 
would  presently  be  in  active  operation.  The 
splendid  good  feeling  in  the  religious  world  at 
this  time,  instead  of  inviting  such  a  scheme,  is 
itself  an  argument  against  it :  Let  us  maintain 
the  policy  by  which  these  blessings  have  been 
won. 


42  RELIGIOUS  FREEDOM  IN 

((f)  As  has  already  been  pointed  out,  the 
State  school  has  no  more  right  to  teach  a  short 
creed  than  a  long  creed,  no  more  right  to  im- 
pose an  attenuated  faith  than  an  elaborate  belief, 
no  more  right  to  handle  the  universals  than  the 
particulars  of  religion.  Introduce  this  policy, 
and  what  happens?  Violation  of  the  funda- 
mental principles  of  the  Modern  State, — religious 
neutrality  in  education;  for  the  State  has  no 
more  right  to  allow  the  use  of  the  time  and  prop- 
erty of  the  school  for  the  instruction  of  its 
children  in  the  religious  beliefs  common  to  ten 
churches  than  it  has  to  impose  the  dogmas  com- 
mon to  Unitarians  and  Universalists !  What 
will  happen  ?  A  revival  of  sectarian  rivalries. 
And,  worse  than  all  else,  formalism  and  offi- 
cialism in  the  realm  of  piety, — a  disaster,  indeed. 
No  !  While  the  home  and  the  church  exist,  there 
is  adequate  provision  for  this  training.  Let  us 
not  weaken,  but  strengthen,  the  hands  that  ought 
to  give  it. 

(e)  The  advocates  of  this  policy  mistake  both 
the  true  character  of  moral  training  and  the 
real  condition  of  the  Public  Schools. 

The  fact  is  that  our  Public  Schools,  without 


AMERICAN  EDUCATION  43 

text-book  on  ethics  or  formal  moral  instruction, 
are  efficient  training-schools  of  character  in 
more  ways  than  one. 

1.  Moral  lessons  are  impressed  upon  the 
pupil  by  all  the  educational  material  which  he 
there  uses.  Moral  sentiment  is  held  in  solution 
by  the  reading-books,  which  are  full  of  the 
choicest  specimens  of  the  world's  literature.  In 
every  mathematical  operation  the  necessity  of 
exactness,  fidelity,  and  veracity  is  enforced.  In 
historical  studies,  moral  laws  are  illustrated  upon 
a  large  scale,  and  moral  qualities  are  made  im- 
pressive by  the  lives  of  great  men.  All  these 
facts  are  sources  of  moral  influences  which  play 
continually  upon  the  pupil's  nature  like  a  tonic 
breeze.  And  this  training  is  all  the  more  effi- 
cient because  it  comes  informally  and  operates 
independently  of  any  preachment.  To  remind 
children  continually  that  they  are  in  this  way 
becoming  moral  would  destroy  the  good  influ- 
ence and  arrest  their  growth  in  character.  So 
that,  to  turn  away  from  this  vital  training  to  a 
set  exercise,  observed  for  the  sake  of  being  good, 
would  be  a  great  misfortune.  It  would  make 
our  schools  far  less  moral. 


44  RELIGIOUS  FREEDOM  IN 

2.  The  discipline  of  the  school  in  itself  affords 
a  very  precious  training  in  morals.  We,  doubt- 
less, seldom  realize  how  much  is  gained  for 
higher  civilization  by  the  attendance  of  a  child 
for  even  six  years  upon  our  Public  Schools. 
There  he  is  put,  during  his  formative  period  of 
life,  into  an  atmosphere  and  under  a  discipline 
which  afford  him  training  in  nearly  all  the  rudi- 
ments of  good  citizenship.  Let  us  enumerate  a 
few  of  them  :  punctuality  and  habits  of  order  ; 
the  lesson  of  obedience  to  authority  and  rever- 
ence for  the  rights  and  feelings  of  others  as 
human  beings  ;  the  sanctity  of  property  and  the 
necessity  of  truthfulness  \  a  manly  bearing  and 
respectful  speech  ;  the  consciousness  of  inde- 
pendence, tempered  with  the  recognition  of 
communal  interests  and  obligations ;  the  stead- 
fastness of  purpose  cultivated  by  task-work,  and 
the  importance  of  exactness  illustrated  by  every 
recitation  ;  the  sentiment  of  equality  and  the 
feeling  of  justice  enforced  by  the  constant  press- 
ure of  experience, —  these  and  other  moral 
qualities  of  highest  moment  are  continuously  be- 
ing imparted  by  the  vitalizing  conditions  of  the 
school. 


AMERICAN  EDUCATION  45 

3.  The  personality  of  the  teacher  is  the  chief 
source  of  moral  influence  in  the  school-room. 
The  presence  of  the  teacher,  if  a  proper  person 
for  the  position,  is  worth  more  than  a  thousand 
text-books,  though  they  all  may  be  as  good  as 
the  Sermon  on  the  Mount.  In  the  casual  judg- 
ments which  the  teacher  passes  upon  persons  and 
events ;  in  the  patience  and  self-control  which 
he  exercises  upon  himself,  and  which  spreads 
from  him  by  a  subtile  mechanism  until  it  im- 
parts moral  health  to  every  pupil ;  in  the  looks 
of  approval  and  disapproval  with  which  he 
meets  the  behavior  of  children  j  in  the  decisions 
which  he  passes  upon  the  conduct  of  those  under 
his  control  ;  in  the  tones  with  which  he  speaks 
to  the  dullest  boy  or  the  most  timid  girl ;  in  the 
forgiveness  which  he  enjoins  and  practises ;  in 
the  veracity  which  he  displays  and  the  sincerity 
which  he  inspires  ;  in  the  kindness  which  he  be- 
stows and  the  self-sacrifice  which  he  recom- 
mends,—  in  all  these  acts  and  attitudes  the  true 
teacher  makes  his  school  a  school  of  applied 
morals,  where  character  really  grows. 

Shall,  then,  our  Public  Schools  teach  a  formal 
moral   code?    No,   rather   let   them  possess   a 


46  RELIGIOUS  FREEDOM  IN 

moral  atmosphere,  derived  from  the  personality 
of  the  teacher.  For  there  is  only  one  way  to 
increase  the  moral  power  of  the  school ;  and 
that  is,  not  by  creating  new  didactic  machinery, 
but  by  investing  in  nobler  teachers.  Place  a 
Horace  Mann  or  a  Thomas  A.rnold  in  a  school- 
room, and  that  school  will  possess  more  moral 
power  than  resides  in  all  the  ethical  handbooks  in 
the  whole  world.  We  must,  then,  put  our  faith 
and  invest  our  money  in  teachers  of  the  very 
highest  character,  and  we  may  be  sure,  that 
where  they  are,  there  will  be  moral  culture 
ripening  noble  manhood  and  womanhood ;  for 
more  powerful  than  everything  else  is  moral 
life  itself. 

Certain  clerical  denunciations  of  our  Public 
Schools  have  been  so  extreme  and  unreasonable 
that  they  have  answered  themselves  ;  and,  there- 
fore, they  need  no  special  attention.  Some  of 
our  eminent  public  men  have,  however,  re- 
cently been  inclined  to  hold  our  educational 
system  responsible  for  everything  evil  in  our 
midst.  Doubtless,  our  fathers  did  expect  too 
much  of  the  common  school.  General  education 
has  not  dried  up  the  sources  of  crime,  nor  has 


AMERICAN  EDUCATION  47 

it  given  us  a  race  of  intellectual  giants  and  fault- 
less saints.  But  it  is  surely  very  unreasonable 
to  pass  by  all  other  agencies  and  influences,  and 
centre  our  criticism  and  censure  upon  the 
Public  School.  It  is  absurd  to  charge  the  wide- 
spread indifference  to  religion  upon  the  school- 
teacher, and  let  the  hundred  thousand  churches 
go  free  of  blame.  It  is  equally  absurd  to  attrib- 
ute our  moral  delinquencies  to  the  secular 
school,  and  absolve  the  home,  the  Sunday-school, 
the  press,  and  the  market-place  of  responsibilty. 
If  our  schools  have  done  less  than  what  was  ex- 
pected of  them,  let  us  remember  that  they  have 
had  to  contend  against  a  large  number  of  unex- 
pected evils. 

The  secular  Public  School  is  exactly  in  line 
with  the  sublime  tendency  toward  freedom  in 
which  Hegel  found  the  key  to  all  historic  dis- 
pensations. It  is  precisely  expressive  of  that 
humanitarian  spirit  which  has  swept  away 
judicial  torture,  inquisitorial  barbarities,  per- 
secution for  opinion's  sake,  religious  tests,  and  a 
great  host  of  monsters.  It  is  the  very  efflo- 
rescence of  that  constructive  justice  of  the  centu- 
ries which  on  battlefield  and  in  court  and  senate, 


48  RELIGIOUS  FREEDOM  IN 

and  through  martyr's  blood  and  poet's  song  and 
statesman's  eloquence,  has  builded  deep  and 
strong  a  commonwealth  where  the  rights  of  each 
and  the  good  of  all  are  united  in  one  glorious 
harmony  of  interests. 

When  we  turn  our  eyes  to  discern  the  deepest 
movements  of  modern  history  and  bend  our 
head  to  hear  "  the  tread  of  men  in  fulfilment  of 
the  great  destinies  of  the  race,"  what  we  see  is 
the  slowly  uptowering  Modern  State,  where  law 
is  free  from  ecclesiastical  dictation  and  politics 
from  sectarian  rancor ;  where  education  is  free 
from  theological  despotism,  and  science  from 
the  yoke  of  tradition ;  where  every  man  is  se- 
cure in  the  exercise  of  his  religious  conviction, 
and  where  no  man  is  ever  obliged  to  contribute 
to  the  support  of  a  dogma  which  he  disbelieves ; 
and,  also,  where  religion,  divinest  daughter  of 
heaven,  unmolested  in  her  own  kingdom,  is 
free  from  bureaucratic  dictation  and  the  cor- 
rupting entanglements  of  political  strife.  And 
what  we  hear  is  the  chorus  of  multitudes,  like 
the  mighty  roar  of  Niagara  breaking  into  articu- 
late speech,  all  pleading  for  what  has  proved  the 
providence  of  God,  that  every  man  be  given  a 


AMERICAN  EDUCATION  49 

chance  to  find  and  live  the  True,  the  Beauti- 
ful, the  Good,  in  his  own  fashion  as  long  as  he 
does  not  trespass  upon  the  rights  of  others.  To 
the  pattern  of  the  Modern  State  the  judges  of 
our  courts  have  as  a  rule  fitted  their  decisions, 
to  the  prophecy  of  the  ages  they  have  given  a 
local  habitation. 

As  we  bend  our  ear  to  catch  the  faintly 
whispered  demand  of  the  myriads  of  children 
yet  unborn,  we  hear  the  divinely  urgent  exhor- 
tation: Guard  for  us  the  Public  School  from 
priestly  tyranny  and  dogmatic  zealotry,  from 
ecclesiastical  dictation  and  the  poison  of  secta- 
rian passion  ;  preserve  it  in  all  its  sacred  freedom 
and  truly  catholic  functions ;  protect  it  as  the 
organ  and  oracle  of  the  humanity  of  man  j  and, 
finally,  hand  it  down  to  us  as  the  seed-plot 
of  patriotism,  more  efficient  for  citizenship  be- 
cause dogma  is  not  there,  and  more  friendly  to 
religion  because  no  unwise  use  of  the  Bible  is 
there  attempted. 


THE  BIBLE  AND  THE  PUBLIC 
SCHOOLS 


THE   BIBLE   AND   THE   PUBLIC 
SCHOOLS 

We  come  now  to  the  discussion  of  the  ques- 
tion, what  place  has  the  Bible  in  the  schools 
of  the  Secular  State  f  As  a  religious  revelation 
or  the  source  of  dogma,  no  place  at  all.  For  the 
Secular  State  cannot  be  the  patron  of  any 
dogma  or  the  custodian  of  any  revelation.  There 
is  no  going  behind  this  fact.  It  may  be  obscured 
by  sophistry  or  condemned  by  sentimental 
prejudice,  but  the  fact  itself  cannot  be  re- 
moved. 

The  Bible  as  literature,  to  be  read  as  literature, 
has  the  same  place  in  the  Public  Schools  as 
Shakespeare  or  Homer,  though  there  may  be 
substantial  reasons  of  another  character  why 
this  should  not  be  done.  To  read  Job  in  the 
common  school  is  as  legitimate  as  to  read  "  Ham- 
let, "  if  it  be  read  j  ust  as  "  Hamlet ' '  is  read.  But 
the  Bible  has  no  place  in  the  Public  Schools  as  an 
authoritative  statement  of  religious  ideas  or  as  a 

53 


54  RELIGIOUS  FREEDOM  IN 

means  of  worship.  This  follows  of  necessity,  be- 
cause the  State,  being  secular,  can  have  nothing 
to  do  with  a  religious  service  or  with  religious 
instruction.  To  assert  that  the  Bible  ought  to 
be  read  as  a  religious  exercise  is  equivalent  to 
asserting  that  the  State  ought  to  have  a  religion. 
That  thrusts  upon  us  the  problem,  What  relig- 
ion shall  the  State  adopt  ?  Even  lovers  of  the 
Bible  do  not  want  to  go  as  far  as  that ;  but,  to  be 
consistent,  they  must  go  as  far  as  that,  or  cease  to 
claim  a  place  in  the  Public  Schools  for  the  Bible 
as  a  religious  revelation  or  as  an  authoritative 
statement  of  religious  truth. 

The  secular  school  is  not  an  enemy  of  the 
Bible.  It  simply  refuses,  in  loyalty  to  the  con- 
stitution of  the  Secular  State,  of  which  it  is  a 
part,  to  make  any  formal  religious  uses  of  the 
Bible.  This  policy  does  not  exclude  the  Bible 
from  the  schools :  it  simply  excludes  certain 
ecclesiastical  uses  of  the  Bible.  We  must  also 
remember  that  the  Bible  has  not  been  excluded 
from  our  Public  Schools  because  of  its  inherent 
character,  but  stop  has  been  put  to  the  use  of  it  as 
an  infallible  revelation  which  men  must  believe  or  be 
damned.     The  Bible  as  a  book  per  se  is  not  ex- 


AMERICAN  EDUCATION  55 

eluded  j  but  the  use  of  the  Bible,  as  a  handbook  of 
religious  instruction  or  as  a  part  of  a  religious  ex- 
ercise in  a  State  School,  that  must  be  purely 
secular,  is  prohibited.  The  demand  has  been, 
and  the  practice  has  been,  to  use  the  Bible  as 
the  infallible  Word  of  God,  as  the  supernatural 
source  of  divine  truth,  as  the  supreme  and  final 
authority  respecting  all  ideas  and  beliefs  con- 
cerning God,  duty,  and  destiny.  The  end  sought 
by  Bible-reading  has  been  religious  instruction. 
And  it  is  this  particular  use  of  the  Bible  that  is 
disallowed  in  State  schools  by  the  American 
Idea. 

The  free  use  of  the  Bible  as  literature,  with 
no  supernatural  claims,  for  no  doctrinal  purpose, 
but  within  the  general  scope  of  other  educational 
material,  would  never  have  raised  any  issue 
except  on  the  part  of  extreme  dogmatists.  But 
when  it  is  put  forward  as  a  supernatural  reve- 
lation that  must  be  believed,  being  used  for 
religious  and  doctrinal  purposes,  it  is  this  use 
of  the  Bible  upon  which  the  whole  problem 
turns. 

The  American  parent,  if  loyal  to  the  American 
Idea,  necessarily  takes  this  position  :  "  I  am  will- 


56  RELIGIOUS  FREEDOM  IN 

ing  that  my  boy  read  the  Genesis  account  of  cre- 
ation freely  as  a  bit  of  sublime  Jewish  cosmol- 
ogy j  but  I  contend  that  the  State  has  no  right 
to  force  him  to  read  it  as  an  infallible  revelation 
or  as  part  of  a  religious  exercise.  I  am  willing 
that  he  read  the  imprecatory  psalm :  i  Let  his 
children  be  fatherless,  and  his  wife  a  widow ;  let 
there  be  none  to  extend  mercy  to  him  j  neither 
let  there  be  any  favor  shown  his  fatherless  chil- 
dren/—  I  am  willing  that  he  read  this  as  he 
reads  in  Homer  about  the  wrath  of  Achilles ; 
but  I  contend  that  the  State  has  no  right  to  force 
him  to  read  these  passages  with  the  under- 
standing that  he  must  believe  them  divine  or  be 
damned.  I  am  willing  that  he  read  the  descrip- 
tion of  the  '  spoiling  of  the  Egyptians '  as  a  rec- 
ord of  unjust  deeds  that  were  once  common  j  but 
I  contend  that  the  State  has  no  right  to  put  this 
story  before  him  with  the  manifest  implication 
that  God  commanded  the  Israelites  to  steal.  I 
am  willing  that  he  read  about  the  extermination 
of  the  Canaanites  as  a  leaf  of  ancient  history ; 
but  I  contend  that  the  State  has  no  right  to 
compel  him  to  read  it  and  accept  that  barbarity 
as  a  part  of  divine  revelation  or  be  in  danger 


AMERICAN  EDUCATION  57 

of  eternal  punishment."  It  is  said  that  other 
books  with  narrations  of  cruelty  are  allowed  in 
the  schools,  but  there  is  this  vast  difference : 
they  are  read  freely,  and  not  as  the  Word  of 
God. 

The  argument  is  sometimes  put  in  this  form  by 
the  opponents  of  the  secular  school:  " Shall  the 
Chinese  cling  to  the  works  of  Confucius  and 
Americans  cast  aside  the  Scrip tures?"  As  a 
matter  of  fact,  the  Chinese  do  not  consider  the 
works  of  Confucius  supernatural,  while  blind  de- 
votion to  Confucian  texts  is  just  what  is  the  mat- 
ter with  China  to-day.  Moreover,  Americans  are 
not  going  to  cast  aside  the  Scriptures.  This 
is  not  the  point  at  issue.  The  American  State, 
in  loyalty  to  its  fundamental  law,  has  decided 
to  stop  an  unlawful  use  of  the  Bible  as  a  divine 
revelation  in  its  schools,  which  must  be  secular, 
but  which  are  not  therefore  godless. 

Many  contend  that  the  Bible  may  be  used  in 
our  schools  as  it  formerly  was,  and  now  is  in 
some  localities,  because  it  is  not  sectarian,  but 
simply  religious.  This  is  the  position  taken  by 
Hon.  Charles  E.  Skinner,  State  Superintendent 
of  Public  Instruction,  New  York,    in  his  last 


• 


58  RELIGIOUS  FREEDOM  IN 

report  (1903).  The  argument  of  Mr.  Skinner 
and  those  who  agree  with  him  does  not,  however, 
tonch  the  point.  The  secular  school  must  be 
/  more  than  non-sectarian  :  it  must  be  religiously 
neutral.  Eeligious  freedom  means  more  than 
the  absence  of  sectarian  instruction  :  it  means 
the  absence  of  all  religious  exercises  and  theo- 
logical teachings.  The  Bible-reading  may  be 
non-sectarian  (although  this  is  unusual)  j  but,  if 
engaged  in  as  a  religious  exercise,  which  is  the 
custom,  if  the  Bible  is  treated  as  a  revelation, 
it  is  contrary  to  the  spirit  and  law  of  the  Secular 
State,  however  frequently  this  may  have  been 
done  in  the  past. 

And,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  the  Bible  is  virtually 
and  necessarily  made  a  sectarian  book  by  those 
who  use  it,  whether  in  church  or  school, — just  as 
sectarian  as  those  who  read  it.  Because  it  has  a 
great  variety  of  teachings  upon  life  and  religion, 
it  is  the  source  of  all  the  sects:  this  church  uses 
and  emphasizes  one  line  of  passages,  while  an- 
other church  uses  and  emphasizes  some  other 
line  of  texts.  All  the  sects  have  some  Scriptu- 
ral warrant :  no  sect  represents  the  whole  Bible. 
This  is  obvious.    Therefore,  a  Presbyterian,  in 


AMERICAN  EDUCATION  59 

selecting  and  reading  passages,  will  naturally 
bring  the  Bible  to  the  support  of  his  Presbyte- 
rianism,  however  fair  he  may  try  to  be.  These 
are  the  chapters  familiar  to  him.  [Naturally,  too, 
as  one  reads,  he  emphasizes  the  language  so  as 
to  make  prominent  his  own  personal  views. 
The  Universalist  will  do  the  same.  So  also  will 
the  Jew.  While  the  follower  of  Mr.  Ingersoll 
(as  has  been  done)  will  select  passages  that  few 
religious  people  would  like  to  have  their  chil- 
dren hear.  Hence  we  claim  that,  however  un- 
sectarian  the  noblest  parts  of  the  Bible  may  be, 
its  use  is  sure  to  be  sectarian,  and  so  a  violation 
of  religious  freedom  in  education. 

We  hear  it  said  that  stopping  such  Bible-read- 
ings is  really  closing  the  fountain  of  civilization 
from  which  our  fathers  drew  their  inspiration. 
Now,  without  attempting  to  give  any  estimate 
of  the  Bible  as  a  civilizing  agent,  we  may  safely 
say  that  our  forefathers  got  whatever  they  did 
out  of  the  Bible  by  a  process  very  different  from 
the  Bible-reading  which  we  are  asked  to  have 
retained  in  our  common  school  instruction  or 
put  into  our  Public  Schools.  What  they  got 
out  of  the  Bible  they  obtained  by  a  prolonged 


I 


60  RELIGIOUS  FREEDOM  IN 

private  study,  not  from  the  formal  reading  of  a 
few  isolated  verses  by  the  schoolmaster  once  a 
day  during  term.  This  form  of  argument  does 
our  forefathers  injustice  j  and,  were  they  able 
to  speak  to  us,  they  would  denounce  the  asser- 
tion that  such  Bible -readings  were  the  foun- 
tains of  their  civilization. 

There  are  people  who  in  view  of  the  fact 
that  the  rising  generation  seems  to  be  alarmingly 
ignorant  of  the  Bible,  demand  that  it  be  put 
back  into  the  Public  School,  in  order  to  cure 
this  growing  evil.  The  ignorance  does  exist, 
and  it  is  a  misfortune  ;  but  the  remedy  proposed 
is  unwise.  Why  not  make  a  demand  upon 
Christian  parents  that  they  do  their  duty  in 
this  respect  as  faithfully  as  our  grandparents 
attended  to  their  religious  duties?  Let  the 
churches  also  be  stirred  to  action.  They  are 
the  special  custodians  and  friends  of  the  Bible. 
Since  there  are  a  hundred  thousand  pulpits  and 
a  million  Sunday-school  teachers  engaged  in 
enforcing  the  Scriptures  in  our  land,  it  is  folly 
to  claim  that  ceasing  to  use  it  for  religious  pur- 
poses in  the  Public  Schools  is  depriving  our 
people  of  the  Bible. 


AMERICAN  EDUCATION  61 

We  hear  it  said,  also,  that  it  is  wrong  for  our 
Public  Schools  to  teach  the  history  of  Caesar  and 
rule  out  the  history  of  Christ.  But  the  story  of 
Jesus'  life,  when  taught  as  Caesar's  life  is  taught, 
is  not  ruled  out.  It  is  only  the  dogmas  about 
Jesus  that  are  excluded ;  and,  if  such  dogmas 
clustered  about  Caesar,  they,  too,  would  be  ruled 
out.  It  is  needless  in  the  discussion  of  this  sub- 
ject to  consider  the  character  of  the  Bible.  It  is 
unnecessary,  for  instance,  to  show  that  some  of 
its  ideas  of  nature  are  contrary  to  those  taught 
the  child  by  science,  that  some  of  its  morals  are 
barbarous,  that  its  historical  statements  are  some- 
times conflicting  and  incorrect.  The  whole 
question  turns  upon  the  fact  that  such  Bible- 
reading  as  is  demanded,  being  a  religious  exer- 
cise, is  contrary  to  the  spirit  and  law  of  the 
Secular  State.  The  argument  lies,  not  against 
the  imperfect  character  of  the  Bible,  but  against 
the  ecclesiastical  use  of  it  in  a  secular  school. 

Doubtless,  the  strongest  and  most  temperate 
argument  for  the  use  of  the  Bible  in  the  Public 
Schools  was  made  by  Horace  Mann  in  the  Eighth 
and  Twelfth  Eeports  of  the  Massachusetts  Board 
of  Education.     Mr.  Mann  said  all  that  can  be 


62  RELIGIOUS  FREEDOM  IN 

said  on  that  side,  and  lie  wrote  with  great  clear- 
ness and  earnestness.  And,  though  we  must  all 
honor  him  as  a  most  excellent  man  who  did  a 
monumental  work  for  American  education,  yet 
it  is  evident,  I  think,  to  the  student  to-day  that 
his  argument  fails  to  make  good  his  thesis. 

It  must  be  remembered  that  Horace  Mann 
wrote  more  than  half  a  century  ago,  before  the 
secular  character  of  our  government  was  as  clear 
to  people  as  it  is  to-day.  And,  as  we  turn  his 
pages,  we  see  that  he  was  fatally  hampered 
by  two  considerations.  He  wished  to  commend 
popular  education  as  far  as  possible  to  a  prej- 
udiced public,  especially  sensititive  at  this 
point.  He  was  willing  to  sacrifice  a  good  deal  to 
make  the  system  successful  as  a  whole. 

Again,  the  atmosphere  of  Mr.  Mann's  own 
life  was  filled  with  notions  inherited  from  Puri- 
tan New  England,  some  of  which  have  since 
passed  away ;  but  they  kept  him  at  that  time 
from  a  clear  apprehension  of  the  essential  char- 
acter of  our  secular  government.  He  was  two 
generations  nearer  the  Mathers  than  we,  and  on 
this  account  he  was  unable  to  look  upon  this 
question  as  rationally  as  he  would  if  alive  to-day. 


AMERICAN  EDUCATION  63 

His  argument  is  pervaded  with,  assumptions 
which  he  never  would  have  made  if  he  had  fully 
grasped  the  meaning  of  the  secularization  of  the 
State,  the  great  and  beneficent  historical  move- 
ment which  has  given  us  the  American  Ideal 
and  the  American  Nation. 

Passing,  however,  from  this  point  of  view,  it 
seems  perfectly  self-evident  that  such,  merely 
formal  and  fragmentary  Bible-reading  is  neither 
just  to  the  Bible  nor  beneficial  to  the  pupil.  It 
is  using  the  Bible  as  a  fetich,  as  a  thing  of  magi- 
cal power,  rather  than  as  a  record  of  truth  and 
aspiration.  Beading  the  Bible  "  without  com- 
ment "  is  the  very  worst  kind  of  reading, — a 
practice  sure  to  become  a  dead  formality,  a  prac- 
tice that  makes  the  Bible  an  object  of  supersti- 
tion. Our  Puritan  ancestors  understood  this  so 
well  that  they  would  not  have  any  such  Bible- 
reading  even  in  their  church  services.  It  would 
be  difficult  to  find  any  one  who  was  ever  led  to 
understand  or  love  the  Bible  by  such  formal 
readings,  "  without  comment.' '  We  treat  no 
other  literature  so  foolishly. 

And,  to  produce  deep  religious  impressions, 
there  must  be  conditions  which  cannot  be  ob- 


s 


64  RELIGIOUS  FREEDOM  W 

taiued  at  such  a  service  in  the  ordinary  school- 
room. Nothing  can  be  worse  than  for  a  pupil, 
day  after  day,  to  sit  unmoved  through  a  relig- 
ious formality.  Those  who  depend  upon  short 
and  formal  Bible-readings  as  an  efficient  means 
of  religious  culture  lean  upon  a  broken  staff; 
and  it  is  because  we  look  upon  religious  culture 
as  such  a  large  and  important  interest  that  we 
enter  our  emphatic  judgment  against  depen- 
dence upon  that  practice. 

The  few  most  notable  judicial  decisions  re- 
specting the  use  of  the  Bible  in  the  Public 
Schools  are  deserving  especial  attention.  And 
the  starting-point  may  well  be  found  in  the 
opening  sentence  of  Article  3  of  the  Ordinance 
of  1787  for  the  government  of  the  Northwest 
Territory,  — 

"Beligion,  morality,  and  knowledge  being 
necessary  to  good  government  and  the  happiness 
of  mankind,  schools  and  the  means  of  education 
shall  forever  be  encouraged." 

It  has  been  claimed  by  men  of  distinction, 
and  no  doubt  believed  by  many,  that  this  pro- 
vision of  the  Ordinance  of  1787  imposed  a  duty 
upon  the  States  organized  out  of  the  territory 


AMERICAN  EDUCATION  65 

north-west  of  the  Ohio  Eiver  to  teach  religion  in 
the  Public  Schools.  It  was  said  by  some  that, 
religion,  morality,  and  knowledge  being  neces- 
sary to  good  government  and  the  happiness  of 
mankind,  schools  and  the  means  of  education 
must  be  made  use  of  to  teach  religion,  morality, 
and  knowledge ;  while  others  said  that,  the  ex- 
tent of  the  meaning  of  the  language  is  that,  if 
schools  and  the  means  of  education  are  forever 
encouraged,  then  religion,  morality,  and  knowl- 
edge will  inevitably  follow,  claiming  that  the 
first  construction  violates  the  idea  of  a  purely 
Secular  State,  which  is  manifestly  the  spirit  of 
the  Federal  Union. 

To  find  a  warrant  for  religious  instruction  or 
regular  Bible-reading  in  the  language  of  this 
Ordinance  is  to  misuse  these  words  and  give  them 
an  application  not  supported  by  logic  or  his- 
tory. 

(1)  The  men  prominent  in  the  direction  of  our 
general  government  at  that  time  held  very  broad 
principles  of  religious  liberty,  and  they  under- 
stood the  basic  principle  respecting  the  separa- 
tion of  church  and  State.  Their  position  is  too 
well  known  to  permit  us  for  a  moment  to  sup- 


6Q  RELIGIOUS  FREEDOM  IN 

pose  that  they  had  any  such  policy  in  mind  as 
the  advocates  of  Bible-reading  in  our  schools 
claim.  Moreover,  the  statement  under  discus- 
sion must  be  read  in  the  light  of  other  state- 
ments in  the  same  document,  such  as  the  follow- 
ing :  The  object  of  the  Ordinance  is  defined  to 
be  uto  extend  the  fundamental  principles  of  civil 
and  religious  liberty,  which  form  the  basis  whereon 
these  republics,  their  laws  and  constitutions,  are 
erected77!  Those  who  used  this  language  about 
"  religious  liberty  "  could  not  have  meant  that 
there  should  be  compulsory  religious  instruc- 
tion in  the  schools,  as  is  contended  by  those 
who  argue  for  the  use  of  the  Bible  in  State 
schools. 

(2)  The  American  Congress  that  formulated 
this  document  never  assumed  to  possess  a  body 
of  religious  beliefs,  and  it  never  attempted  to 
interfere  in  the  management  of  ecclesiastical 
affairs.  As  it  was  not  in  possession  of  any  relig- 
ion of  its  own  to  bestow,  and  as  authority  in  re- 
ligious matters  was  not  included  among  its 
powers,  that  Congress  could  not  inject  into  one 
of  its  creations  something  that  lay  quite  apart 
from  its  own  being.     It  had  no  right,  and  it 


AMERICAN  EDUCATION  67 

certainly  never  intended,  to  legislate  in  behalf 
of  religions  interests.  Moreover,  even  if  the 
members  of  that  body  had  tried  to  do  what  is 
claimed,  their  action  would  have  been  null  and 
void,  because  the  act  of  the  people  of  the  colonies 
in  calling  them  together  conferred  upon  them 
no  religious  or  ecclesiastical  functions. 

It  may  seem  quite  needless  to  pay  even  pass- 
ing attention  to  this  argument,  which  is  like  a 
pyramid  set  upon  its  apex.  But  some  allusion 
to  it  is  apparently  still  necessary  j  for  there  are 
among  us  a  few  educators  who  hark  back  to 
this  inconclusive  argument,  while  prominent 
clergymen  are  now  and  then  heard  repeating  the 
discredited  propositions.  Surely,  a  case  that  has 
to  plead  its  cause  with  such  ancient  sophistries 
has  no  solid  basis  upon  which  to  rest. 

In  the  Constitution  of  Ohio,  however,  the  sub- 
stance of  the  text,  just  quoted  from  the  Ordi- 
nance, was  incorporated,  without  attempting 
any  settlement  of  the  dispute  as  to  the  meaning 
of  the  words  used.  For  some  years  it  was  un- 
doubtedly considered  by  those  in  authority  that 
the  Bible  was  an  essential  part  of  the  school 
curriculum,   for  it  was  commonly  read  in  the 


68  RELIGIOUS  FREEDOM  IN 

opening  exercises  of  the  schools  in  that  State 
until  1870. 

In  that  year  the  Board  of  Education  of  the 
City  of  Cincinnati  passed  resolutions  forbidding 
further  reading  from  the  Bible,  and  immediately 
a  storm  arose  upon  the  political  horizon. 

A  petition  was  filed  in  court  by  certain  citi- 
zens of  the  municipality  praying  for  a  decree 
commanding  the  School  Board  to  rescind  its  ac- 
tion and  restore  the  Bible  to  its  former  use  in 
the  schools  j  and  the  case  was  rested  upon  the 
ground  above  alluded  to,  that  the  law  quoted 
above  did  really  lay  upon  the  government  a  posi- 
tive duty  to  teach  religion  in  its  schools. 

In  the  lower  court  a  majority  of  the  judges 
held  that  the  relief  should  be  granted  and  the 
Bible-readings  should  be  resumed  in  the  Public 
Schools.  The  case  was  taken  to  the  Supreme 
Court  by  the  Board  of  Education,  where  it  was 
argued  upon  both  sides  by  counsel  eminent  in 
their  profession  and  of  more  than  local  reputation. 
Stanley  Matthews,  afterwards  Attorney- general 
and  one  of  the  justices  of  the  Supreme  Court  of 
the  United  States,  appeared  for  the  Board  of 
Education  ;  and,  although  he  protested  that  he  was 


AMERICAN  EDUCATION  69 

a  firm  believer  in  the  divine  inspiration  and  in- 
fallibility of  the  Bible,  he  contended  against  the 
nse  of  the  book  in  the  schools.  And  the  Supreme 
Court  unanimously  held,  in  accordance  with  his 
contention,  that  the  Board  had  the  right  to  ex- 
clude the  Bible  ;  and  the  resolutions  were  accord- 
ingly sustained. 

The  question  was  presented  to  the  Supreme 
Court  of  Wisconsin,  in  1890,  in  the  case  of  the 
State  upon  relation  of  Weiss  against  the  Edger- 
ton  School  Board.  In  that  case  it  appeared 
that  the  King  James'  Version  of  the  Bible  was 
one  of  the  regularly  adopted  text-books,  and  was 
read  at  the  opening  exercises  of  the  various  Pub- 
lic Schools.  Certain  citizens  of  the  city  of  Edg- 
erton  complained  of  the  practice  as  being  in 
violation  of  the  provision  of  the  Constitution  of 
Wisconsin,  that  the  schools  should  not  be  made 
use  of  for  sectarian  instruction ;  and  they  peti- 
tioned the  Court  for  a  mandamus  to  prevent  it. 
It  was  claimed  by  the  learned  counsel  for  the 
School  Board  that  the  Christian  religion  had 
been  embodied  in  the  fundamental  laws  of  the 
American  colonies,  and  that  by  virtue  of  the 
Ordinance  of  1787  it  became  a  part  of  the  fun  da- 


70  RELIGIOUS  FREEDOM  IN 

mental  law  of  the  State  of  Wisconsin.  The  de- 
cision of  the  Court  was  unanimous  against  the 
claim  of  the  Board,  and  a  peremptory  writ  was 
ordered  as  prayed  in  the  petition. 

In  disposing  of  the  case,  the  Court  used  the 
following  language:  "The  reading  of  any  ver- 
sion of  the  Holy  Bible  in  the  common  schools 
as  a  text-book  without  restriction,  although  not 
accompanied  by  any  comment  by  the  instructor, 
is  sectarian  instruction  within  the  meaning  of 
Section  3  of  Article  X.  of  the  Wisconsin  Con- 
stitution, and  is  thereby  prohibited  ;  nor  is  the 
prohibition  removed  by  the  fact  that  any  child 
may  withdraw  from  such  school- room  during 
such  reading. " 

In  Michigan,  notwithstanding  the  plain  pro- 
vision of  the  fundamental  law  of  the  State  that 
the  legislature  shall  not  compel  any  person  to 
pay  tithes,  taxes,  or  other  rates  for  the  support 
of  any  minister  of  the  gospel  or  teacher  of  re- 
ligion, the  Bible  is  quite  generally  used  in  the 
morning  exercises  in  the  Public  Schools,  espe- 
cially in  the  rural  districts. 

Mutterings  of  opposition  were  heard  from  time 
to  time  until  in  1896  a  committee  of  clergymen, 


AMERICAN  EDUCATION  71 

working  under  the  auspices  of  the  Chicago 
Woman's  Educational  Union,  prepared  a  little 
book  called  "Keadings  from  the  Bible  Selected 
for  Schools/7  consisting  of  a  large  number  of 
Scripture  quotations  arranged  in  groups  j  and 
the  School  Board  of  the  City  of  Detroit  adopted 
it  for  the  schools  of  that  city. 

A  short  time  after  its  introduction  a  number 
of  citizens  commenced  proceedings  in  the  courts 
to  restrain  the  practice  on  the  ground  that  they 
were  taxed  for  the  support  of  a  teacher  of  re- 
ligion, although  the  readings  were  without  note 
or  comment.  The  circuit  court  held  that  the 
objection  was  well  taken,  and  granted  the  in- 
junction. 

The  case  was  taken  to  the  Supreme  Court, 
where  it  was  presented  with  fulness  and  ability  ; 
but  a  majority  of  the  Court  held  that  the  judg- 
ment of  the  lower  court  should  be  reversed,  not 
upon  the  theory  that  the  Ordinance  of  1787  re- 
quired the  teaching  of  religion,  but  upon  the 
ground  that  the  use  of  the  book,  "Beadings  from 
the  Bible/ }  read  without  note  or  comment,  did 
not  constitute  the  reader  a  teacher  of  religion. 

These  decisions  are  all  very  decisive  in  favor 


72  RELIGIOUS  FREED 031  IN 

of  the  secular  character  of  the  Public  School, 
although  that  of  the  Michigan  Court  seems  to 
lack  both  judicial  weight  and  civic  wisdom. 

The  Supreme  Court  of  the  State  of  Nebraska 
has  recently  (Oct.  9,  1902)  rendered  a  deci- 
sion on  this  subject  in  harmony  with  that  given 
by  the  Wisconsin  Court.  It  is  known  as  State 
v.  Scheve.  The  facts  are  these :  In  a  Public 
School  in  Gage  County,  which  the  children  of 
Daniel  Freeman  attended,  certain  religious  exer- 
cises were  held  daily,  that  consisted  of  prayer, 
singing  of  hymns,  and  the  reading  of  passages 
from  the  Bible, —  King  James'  Version.  The 
point  at  issue  was  whether  such  exercises  are 
contrary  to  the  Constitution  of  the  State. 

The  Court  in  its  decision  first  referred  to  these 
two  provisions  of  the  State  Constitution  :  "  All 
persons  have  a  natural  and  indefeasible  right  to 
worship  Almighty  God  according  to  the  dictates 
of  their  own  consciences.  ~No  person  shall  be 
compelled  to  attend,  erect,  or  support  any  place 
of  worship  against  his  consent,  and  no  preference 
shall  be  given  by  law  to  any  religious  society, 
nor  shall  any  interference  with  the  rights  of 
conscience  be    permitted"   (Art.   I.,    Sect.  4). 


AMERICAN  EDUCATION  73 

Also  :  "  No  sectarian  instruction  shall  be  allowed 
in  any  school  or  institution  supported,  in  whole 
or  in  part,  by  the  public  funds  set  apart  for 
educational  purposes"  (Art.  VIII. ,  Sect.  11). 

The  decision  of  the  Court  sustained  the  con- 
tention of  Mr.  Freeman,  and  the  syllabus  by 
the  Court  is  as  follows  :  u  Exercises  by  a  teacher 
in  a  Public  School  in  a  school  building,  in  school 
hours,  and  in  the  presence  of  the  pupils,  consist- 
ing of  the  reading  of  passages  from  the  Bible, 
and  in  the  singing  of  songs  and  hymns,  and  offer- 
ing prayer  to  the  Deity  in  accordance  with  the 
doctrines,  beliefs,  customs,  or  usages  of  sectarian 
churches  or  religious  organizations,  is  forbidden 
by  the  Constitution  of  this  State."  It  is  a  sig- 
nificant fact  that  the  Court  did  not  apparently 
deem  it  necessary  to  enter  into  an  elaborate 
argument  in  support  of  its  decision,  taking  it  for 
granted  that  the  general  principle  at  issue  is  so 
widely  accepted  that  it  needed  no  extended  dis- 
cussion. Eeference  is  made  to  the  Wisconsin 
decision  as  thorough  and  conclusive  :  "  We 
think  it,  therefore,  sufficient  for  our  purpose  to 
direct  attention  to  that  authority." 

In  passing,   it  ought  to  be  stated  that  the 


74  RELIGIOUS  FREED 031  IJV 

courts  of  final  jurisdiction  in  a  few  States,  nota- 
bly Maine,  Massachusetts,  and  Connecticut,  have 
sustained  the  position  that  the  teacher  has  the 
right  under  the  constitutions  of  these  States  to 
read  the  Bible  in  the  Public  Schools ;  and  it  is 
so  read  in  many  places  in  that  part  of  our 
country. 

The  situation  in  the  State  of  New  York  is 
somewhat  peculiar.  In  a  general  act  relative 
to  education  passed  in  1851,  after  a  provision 
prohibiting  the  use  of  public  funds  in  aid  of 
schools  connected  with  or  supported  by  any  re- 
ligious body,  this  language  was  used:  "But 
nothing  herein  contained  shall  authorize  the 
board  of  education  to  exclude  the  Holy  Script- 
ures without  note  or  comment,  or  any  selection 
therefrom,  from  any  of  the  Public  Schools  pro- 
vided for  in  this  act"  (Chap.  386,  Sect.  18). 
This  permissive  statute  is  still  in  force.  In  the 
city  of  New  York  the  Board  of  Education  has 
used  the  power  here  granted  to  require  the  read- 
ing of  the  Bible  in  the  common  schools.  The 
reading  of  the  Bible  is  still  maintained  in  a 
majority  of  the  State  schools,  although  it  has 
been  abandoned  in  many  places  in  recent  years. 


AMERICAN  EDUCATION  75 

The  State  courts  have  never  passed  upon  this 
question. 

Previous  to  1894,  sectarian  schools,  whose 
students  passed  the  Begents'  Examinations,  re- 
ceived the  regular  per  capita  allowance  from  the 
annual  income  of  the  Literature  Fund  of  the 
State  (about  $10,000  a  year).  To  prevent  this, 
the  following  language  was  used  in  the  new 
constitution  framed  that  year:  " Neither  the 
State,  nor  any  subdivision  thereof,  shall  use 
its  property  or  credit  or  any  public  money,  or 
authorize  or  permit  either  to  be  used,  directly 
or  indirectly  in  aid  or  maintenance,  other  than 
for  examination  or  inspection,  of  any  school  or 
institution  of  learning  wholly  or  in  part  under 
the  control  or  direction  of  any  religious  de- 
nomination, or  in  which  any  denominational 
tenet  or  doctrine  is  taught "  (Art.  IX.,  Sect.  4). 
In  reporting  this  matter  to  the  Constitutional 
Convention  of  1894,  Hon.  F.  W.  Holls,  in  re- 
ferring to  the  apportionment  of  the  income  from 
the  Literature  Fund  to  sectarian  as  well  as 
Public  Schools,  used  these  words:  "This  part 
of  the  States'  assistance  is,  in  our  opinion,  con- 
tary  to  sound  principles  of  separation  of  church 


76  RELIGIOUS  FREEDOM  IN 

and  State,  and  will  be  absolutely  prohibited  by 
the  adoption  of  our  proposed  amendment." 

The  two  hopeful  facts  in  the  State  of  New 
York  are  these :  a  slowly  growing  tendency  to 
discontinue  the  reading  of  the  Bible  in  the 
Public  Schools,  while  the  small  State  aid  to 
sectarian  schools  has  been  stopped.  Whatever 
public  funds  find  their  way  in  that  State  to 
the  hands  of  religious  brotherhoods  or  church 
schools,  it  is  in  plain  violation  of  both  the  con- 
titution  and  the  statutes  of  the  State. 

The  decision  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  Wiscon- 
sin may  well  be  called  epoch-making.  It  stands 
as  the  clearest  and  most  decisive  deliverance  so 
far  made  in  our  country  on  this  subject.  It  made 
a  profound  impression  j  it  has  had  a  very  power- 
ful influence.  While  some  of  the  narrower  dog- 
matists in  various  churches  at  once  condemned 
it  as  revolutionary  and  unchristian,  still  it  has 
been  widely  accepted  as  a  just  decision, — as  the 
only  one  that  could  be  made  in  loyalty  to  the 
fundamental  character  of  our  government.  There 
are  many  public  men,  especially  clergymen, 
who  do  not  accept  the  principles  here  set  forth. 
Some  eminent  educators  still  contend  for  the 


AMERICAN  EDUCATION  77 

old  order.  There  are  many  Public  Schools  in 
which  the  Bible  is  still  used.  But  the  ten- 
dency all  over  our  country  is  toward  the  accept- 
ance of  the  Wisconsin  decision  as  an  authorita- 
tive description  of  true  Americanism. 

Two  recent  incidents  (many  similar  ones  might 
be  cited)  illustrate  the  truth  that  the  national 
consciousness  is  becoming  clear  and  strong  in 
this  precise  direction.  The  attorney- general  of 
the  State  of  Montana,  Hon.  H.  J.  Haskell,  has, 
in  a  recent  decision,  taken  the  same  positions 
and  affirmed  the  same  principles  as  those  occu- 
pied and  asserted  by  the  Supreme  Court  of  Wis- 
consin. In  a  recent  sermon,  Eev.  Dr.  Teunis  S. 
Hamlin,  of  Washington,  D.C.,  one  of  the  most 
prominent  clergymen  of  the  Presbyterian  Church, 
forcibly  advocated  the  complete  secularization  of 
our  schools  in  the  line  of  what  has  here  been 
written  j  and  he  is  only  one  of  an  ever- increas- 
ing cloud  of  witnesses  to  the  wisdom  and  justice 
of  this  policy. 

A  very  large  number  of  our  teachers, —  per- 
sons, too,  of  religious  convictions  and  spiritual 
earnestness, — through  a  clearer  recognition  that 
the  specific  business  of  the  Public  Schools  is  the 


78  RELIGIOUS  FREEDOM  IN 

acquisition  of  knowledge,  have  already  come  to 
the  conclusion,  in  no  opposition  to  religion  and 
in  no  unfriendliness  toward  the  Bible,  that  the 
interests  of  these  schools  are  best  promoted  by- 
making  no  formal  use  of  the  Scriptures  in  them. 
So  that  common  experience  has,  in  large  sections 
of  our  country,  reached  that  practical  conclu- 
sion which  the  courts  have  affirmed  as  the  teach- 
ing of  the  fundamental  laws  of  the  land.  How 
this  result  warrants  the  charge  that  these  schools 
are  godless  is  beyond  comprehension.  It  is 
difficult  to  see  how  a  bank  is  made  godless  by 
neglecting  to  compel  a  man  to  read  a  chapter  in 
the  Bible  before  he  deposits  his  money. 

If  there  is  any  place  which  is  really  and  pre- 
eminently godly,  it  is  the  Public  School,  where 
children  of  all  sects,  races,  and  conditions,  meet 
upon  absolute  equality  to  acquire  knowledge,  to 
be  trained  in  justice,  fidelity,  and  universal 
fellowship,  and  to  be  inducted  into  the  rights 
and  sanctities  of  citizenship.  God  may  not  be 
there  in  any  dogmatic  definition,  but,  what  is 
infinitely  better,  he  is  there  in  the  heart  of  the 
teacher,  and  in  the  very  atmosphere  of  the 
school- room ;  and  how  a  formal  reading  of  the 


AMERICAN  EDUCATION  79 

Bible  would  bring  him  any  nearer  it  would  be 
hard  to  prove  or  explain. 

That  ,we  need  more  reverence  in  our  youth, 
that  deeper  consecration  ought  to  be  inwrought 
with  our  educational  methods,  that  our  school- 
rooms ought  to  be  lighted  up  by  inspiring  ideals, 
—  all  this  is  indeed  true  ;  and  these  truths  are 
insisted  upon  by  the  friends  of  the  Secular  State 
as  much  as  by  churchmen.  But  the  wise  educator 
sees  that  the  formal  reading  of  the  Bible  without 
comment,  under  the  inevitable  conditions  of  the 
ordinary  school-rooms,  is  not  the  true  method 
for  the  cultivation  of  these  spiritual  graces. 
And,  while  this  practice  exists  and  is  depended 
upon  as  adequate,  nothing  more  rational  will  be 
done.  Just  here  has  been  our  misfortune  in  the 
past. 

But  a  better  day  is  coming  for  the  Bible  and  for 
the  pupil,  for  education  and  for  religion.  When 
the  Public  Schools  no  longer  indulge  in  religious 
exercises  and  Bible- readings,  which  they  cannot 
legally  or  successfully  carry  forward,  then  par- 
ents and  churches,  brought  to  a  keen  realization 
of  their  responsibilities,  will  engage  much  more 
actively  in  this  precious  work  of  religious  train- 


80  RELIGIOUS  FREEDOM  IN 

ing,  to  which  they  have  given  but  slight  or  in- 
adequate attention.  As  long  as  there  was  a 
formal  use  of  the  Bible  in  the  Public  Schools, 
the  parent  lazily  felt  that  all  was  going  well 
with  the  child,  when  really  nothing  of  impor- 
tance was  being  done  in  this  direction.  As  soon 
as  the  common  school  abandons  this  fruitless  and 
unwise  policy,  then  the  parent  will  bestir  himself 
to  insure  his  child  religious  instruction  and  fa- 
miliarity with  the  Bible.  He  will  see  that  the 
church  is  the  proper  institution  to  accomplish 
this  work  ;  and,  whatever  new  machinery  may  be 
needed  in  order  that  it  may  be  better  done,  he 
will  make  sure  that  it  is  provided. 

The  result  will  be  that  parents  will  more 
fully  appreciate  the  value  of  the  church  when 
they  understand  that  it  is  engaged  in  doing 
something  important  for  their  child  which  the 
Public  School  cannot  do,  and  this  will  lead  to 
a  more  generous  support  of  the  church.  On  the 
other  hand,  the  church,  enriched  and  strength- 
ened by  this  new  parental  interest,  and  awakened 
to  a  keener  consciousness  of  its  own  task,  will 
prosper  as  never  before.  The  church  will  take  in 
hand  the  work  of  religious  training,  and  carry 


AMERICAN  EDUCATION  81 

it  forward  by  larger  methods  and  in  a  more 
modern  spirit.  And  all  this  will  place  religion 
before  the  community  in  a  more  attractive  light, 
while  it  will  bring  into  the  fold  of  the  church 
men  and  women  not  only  better  equipped  for  its 
service,  but  better  prepared  for  all  their  duties 
in  life.  * 

And  the  child, —  what  of  him?  He  will  un- 
derstand and  love  the  Bible  as  never  before,  be- 
cause, instead  of  a  formal  and  perfunctory  read- 
ing forced  upon  him  at  an  inopportune  time, 
and  too  scant  and  fragmentary  to  kindle  interest 
or  be  of  use,  —  instead  of  this  barren  exercise, 
he  will  be  sympathetically  and  thoroughly  in- 
structed in  Scripture  at  home  and  at  church,  so 
that  what  was  once  hated  he  will  come  to  ap- 
preciate and  be  able*  to  use.  A  new  interest  will 
grow  up  in  him  toward  the  church,  because  he 
will  see  that  it  has  rendered  him  an  invaluable 
service  j  while  religion,  no  longer  forced  upon 
him  as  a  matter  of  compulsion  in  an  uncongenial 
atmosphere  at  an  inappropriate  moment,  will 
secure  in  him  a  more  loving  disciple  by  coming 
to  him  in  the  winsome  instruction  of  an  affection- 
ate parent  or  by  the  attractive  teaching  of  a 
spiritual  church. 


82  RELIGIOUS  FREEDOM 

That  is  the  best  arrangement,  for  all  interests 
and  institutions,  which  keeps  the  Public  School 
close  to  its  special  work  and  frees  it  from  all 
other  responsibilities,  which  commits  religious 
instruction  to  those  who  are  called  of  God  to 
give  it,  and  which  leaves  the  Bible  to  make  its 
way  into  the  heart,  not  by  compulsion  and 
formality,  but  along  the  lines  of  persuasion 
which  centre  in  home  and  church. 


THE  RELIGIOUS  MOTIVE  AND 
HIGHER  EDUCATION 


THE   RELIGIOUS   MOTIVE   AND 
HIGHER   EDUCATION 

Before  the  nineteenth  century  the  founding 
of  academies  and  colleges  in  America  was  al- 
most solely  the  product  of  religious  interest  and 
church  enterprise.  The  academies  and  semina- 
ries so  thickly  strewn,  especially  over  New  Eng- 
land, were  established  by  devout  churchmen,  in 
order  to  promote  the  Christian  faith.  In  some 
instances,  like  the  Roxbury  Latin  School  and  the 
Boston  Latin  School,  civic  enthusiasm  was  more 
prominent  than  ecclesiastical  zeal.  But  as  a 
rule,  the  impulse  that  lead  to  the  organization  of 
institutions  of  higher  learning  was  distinctly  and 
strongly  religious,  sometimes  even  warmly  and 
narrowly  denominational. 

A  great  many  colleges,  like  "Williams  (1793) 
and  Amherst  (1821),  had  their  origin  in  a  desire 
to  provide  inducement  and  opportunity  for 
young  men  to  enter  the  ministry.  In  the  early 
years,    charity  students  in  preparation  for  the 

85 


86  RELIGIOUS  FREEDOM  IN 

pulpit  were  common.  Up  to  1850,  in  these  and 
other  similar  institutions,  a  very  large  propor- 
tion of  the  graduates  entered  the  ministry,  while 
many  became  missionaries  in  the  Great  West  or 
in  foreign  lands.  In  recent  years  the  tendency 
in  these  schools  has  been  decidedly  away  from 
clerical  pursuits.  The  percentage  of  graduates 
who  now  become  ministers  has  fallen  almost  to 
the  vanishing  point,  as  low  as  5  per  cent,  in 
some  cases.  A  distinct  missionary  enthusiasm 
led  to  the  founding  of  some  colleges.  Here  was 
the  origin  of  Dartmouth,  1769, —  where  young 
Indians  were  to  be  civilized  and  Christianized. 

A  very  positive  denominational  interest  pro- 
duced such  institutions  as  Brown  (Baptist)  in 
1765  j  Kings' — now  Columbia  University  — 
(Episcopal)  in  1754 ;  Dickinson  (Methodist 
Episcopal)  in  1783 ;  and  Bowdoin  (Congrega- 
tional) in  1794.  A  more  intense  interest,  reach- 
ing what  may  be  called  the  sectarian  spirit, 
operated  in  establishing  Princeton  (Presbyterian) 
in  1746  and  Eutgers  (Dutch  Eeform)  in  1770. 

There  is  a  clear  distinction  between  denomina- 
tional enthusiasm  and  a  sectarian  spirit.  The 
former  is  more  open,  progressive,  and  tolerant : 


AMERICAN  EDUCATION  87 

the  latter  is  more  narrow,  dogmatic,  and  exclu- 
sive. The  one  works  for  its  own  church,  but 
with  an  eye  to  the  larger  interests  of  the  whole 
Christian  world  :  the  other  stands  apart  from 
mankind  in  general  with  the  assumption  that  its 
creed  alone  is  true,  and  its  ambition  is  to  bring 
all  others  to  its  peculiar  form  of  faith.  The  de- 
nominational leader  feels  that  he  is  only  one  of 
the  servants  of  the  Lord,  and  he  is  willing  to  co- 
operate with  the  others  in  bringing  in  the  king- 
dom of  God.  The  sectarian  zealot  is  sure  that 
he  is  the  chief,  if  not  the  only  true,  follower  of 
the  Master,  and  it  is  his  duty  not  to  co-operate 
with  others,  but  to  convert  them  to  his  dogma. 
All  this  is  stated  not  in  condemnation,  but  in 
mere  description  of  states  of  mind  and  policies 
of  action  which  are  clearly  distinct  and  often 
radically  different.  This  may  be  illustrated, 
without  indulging  in  invidious  comparisons,  by 
looking  a  moment  at  two  institutions  such  as 
Knox  College  (Congregational)  and  Albion  Col- 
lege (Methodist  Episcopal).  In  the  former 
there  is  a  strong  denominational  feeling,  but  it 
has  never  reached  the  point  of  intensity  that 
amounts  to  sectarianism.     In  the  latter  institu- 


88  RELIGIOUS  FREEDOM  IN 

tion  the  obvious  and  declared  object  is  to  make 
Methodists.  So  Tufts  College  was  founded  to 
serve  the  interests  of  the  Universalist  denomina- 
tion, but  with  no  assumption  that  other  churches 
have  a  radically  false  interpretation  of  the  Chris- 
tian life.  On  the  other  hand,  a  very  decided 
sectarian  spirit  led  the  Seventh  Day  Adventists 
to  organize  Battle  Creek  College  j  for  they  hold 
that  on  matters  of  most  vital  importance  they 
are  right  and  other  churches  are  wrong. 

The  fifty  years  from  1820  to  1870  may  be 
called  the  blossom-time  of  denominational  and 
sectarian  activity  in  education  in  America.  In 
this  period  of  the  great  expansion  of  our  national 
life  a  remarkable  number  of  institutions  of 
higher  learning  came  into  existence.  The  vari- 
ous sects  in  our  country  were  extremely  active 
in  founding  colleges.  About  two  hundred  and 
fifty  institutions,  bearing  the  name  of  college  or 
University,  came  into  existence  in  the  United 
States  during  this  period!  Some  thirty  of  these 
were  Eoman  Catholic.  Besides  the  strictly  State 
institutions  (about  fifty),  nearly  all  of  these  owe 
their  existence  to  the  zeal,  enterprise,  and  gener- 
osity of   churchmen.     In  a  great  majority  of 


AMERICAN  EDUCATION  89 

cases  —  in  fact,  with  very  few  exceptions  —  the 
real  founders  were  clergymen. 

Among  these  institutions  the  one  farthest 
removed  from  the  denominational  or  sectarian 
spirit,  Washington  University  (1852),  was  cre- 
ated by  a  clergyman,  a  man  of  deep  and 
earnest  piety, — Eev.  Dr.  William  G.  Eliot. 
Some  of  these  colleges,  with  greatest  theologi- 
cal breadth,  have  been  intensely  religious  in 
their  general  spirit,  and  they  have  been  sup- 
ported by  the  self-sacrifice  of  religious  people  : 
Oberlin,  which  was  made  the  home  of  urgent 
spirituality  by  Charles  G.  Finney  \  Antioch, 
which  rejoices  in  many  precious  memories  of 
Horace  Mann  j  Berea,  inclusive  in  spirit,  but 
carrying  a  definite  religious  impulse  hand  in 
hand  with  the  treasures  of  learning  to  the 
mountain  whites  of  the  Appalachian  region. 

But  a  majority  of  these  institutions  were 
founded  to  serve  and  foster  church  interests, 
and  they  have  partaken  in  the  past  more  or 
less  of  the  sectarian  spirit :  Pennsylvania  Col- 
lege (1832),  devoted  to  the  Lutheran  church ; 
Milton  College  (1867),  equally  devoted  to  the 
cause  of   the  Seventh    Day    Baptists ;   Hobart 


90  RELIGIOUS  FREEDOM  IN 

College  (1825 ),  maintained  with  an  eye  single 
to  the  interests  of  the  Episcopal  church  j  Chris- 
tian University  (Canton,  Mo.,  1853)  is  a  product 
of  the  zeal  of  the  Disciples  ;  Cumberland  Uni- 
versity (1842),  founded  to  provide  higher  edu- 
cation for  the  Cumberland  Presbyterians  j  and 
Mercer  University  (1837),  organized  by  South- 
ern Baptists  to  promote  the  interests  of  their 
particular  church.  These  and  other  similar 
facts  show  how  powerfully  the  educational  im- 
pulse and  interest  of  Americans  worked  along 
denominational,  and  even  sectarian,  lines  during 
the  middle  decades  of  the  last  century. 

The  educational  impulse  did  not,  however, 
always  work,  even  in  the  nineteenth  century, 
through  the  hands  of  clergymen  or  in  behalf  of 
church  interests.  Thomas  Jefferson,  in  found- 
ing the  University  of  Virginia  (1819),  did  an 
original  and  influential  work.  He  was  not  only 
a  layman,  but  a  man  of  anti-  clerical,  though  not 
anti- religious,  cast  of  mind.  He  was  the  first 
great  American  to  work  conspicuously  for 
higher  education  outside  church  lines  and  with 
no  specific  reference  to  the  cause  of  religion. 
His  example  in  time  had  a  profound  influence, 


AMERICAN  EDUCATION  91 

especially  on  the  educational  policies  of  the 
States  formed  out  of  the  Northwest  Territory. 

Later  two  other  men  (very  different  in  the 
spirit  of  their  lives)  contributed  to  the  same 
movement  of  education  away  from  ecclesiastical 
channels  :  Stephen  Girard,  who  insisted  that  the 
institution  which  he  founded  should  be  free  from 
religious  instruction  and  clerical  supervision  j 
and  Peter  Cooper,  who,  in  organizing  his  In- 
stitute, was  moved  by  philanthropic  rather 
than  ecclesiastical  interests. 

During  the  last  generation  a  great  change 
has  occurred  in  the  educational  impulses,  ideals, 
and  methods  of  the  American  people.  Since 
about  1870,  besides  the  State  Universities  and 
the  technical  schools,  like  the  Massachusetts  In- 
stitute of  Technology  and  the  Case  School  of 
Applied  Sciences  (distinctly  secular  in  charac- 
ter), a  half-dozen  great  schools  have  arisen  that 
indicate  the  direction  and  character  of  the  domi- 
nant movement  in  our  educational  world, — Cor- 
nell, Johns  Hopkins,  Tulane,  Chicago,  Leland 
Stanford,  Jr.,  and  Clark. 

The  spirit  animating  the  founders  of  these 
Universities  has  been  quite  unlike  that  which 


92  RELIGIOUS  FREEDOM  IN 

stirred  the  men  who  built  up  Amherst  and  Trin- 
ity, and  radically  different  from  that  which  pre- 
sided over  the  early  history  of  Princeton  and 
Eutgers.  The  impelling  motive  has  not  been 
sectarian  in  any  of  these  institutions,  not  even 
mildly  denominational  in  but  one.  It  may  be 
called  religious,  but  religious  only  in  a  very 
large  and  inclusive  sense.  The  clerical  ideal 
and  enthusiasm  which  once  created  everything 
and  controlled  everything  in  the  realm  of  edu- 
cation have  had  practically  nothing  to  do  with 
the  organization  or  administration  of  these  great 
institutions. 

But  denominational  enterprise  and  sectarian 
zeal  have  not  ceased  to  exist  in  the  educational 
world  of  America.  It  is  a  remarkable  fact  that 
during  the  last  twenty-five  years  about  eighty 
schools,  calling  themselves  colleges  or  Universi- 
ties, have  come  into  existence  that  frankly  take 
some  church  name  !  They  have  been  estab- 
lished primarily  to  maintain  a  particular  form 
of  theological  belief.  And  it  is  an  equally  re- 
markable fact  that  the  total  attendance  of  stu- 
dents, of  what  they  themselves  call  the  collegiate 
grade  (which  of  course  is  far  below  the  standard 


AMERICAN  EDUCATION  9£ 

of  our  best  schools),  is,  in  these  eighty  institu- 
tions about  four  thousand, —  approximately,  an 
average  of  fifty  to  a  college  !  Thirty-three  have 
less  than  twenty-five  so-called  collegiate  stu- 
dents !  Altogether,  these  eighty  schools  have 
only  about  as  many  collegiate  students  as  Har- 
vard has  in  its  literary  department.  These  facts 
show  that,  while  the  denominational  motive  in 
education  has  not  ceased  to  operate,  it  has  spent 
its  force. 

It  throws  a  significant  light  upon  these  facts 
to  remember  that  a  very  large  proportion  of 
these  schools  are  located  in  the  South  and  the 
Far  West ;  and  they  represent,  not  the  need  or 
desire  of  the  local  community,  but  the  intrusion 
of  enterprising  missionary  agents,  who  in  many 
cases  have  joined  hand  with  speculators  in  town 
sites.  So  that  the  denominational  enthusiasm 
is  not  really  as  strong  as  this  multiplication  of 
institutions  would  indicate. 

Some  Conclusions. 
(1)  The  work  of  higher  education  in  America 
previous  to  1870,  the  organization  and  adminis- 
tration of  colleges  and  Universities,  was  very 


) 


94  RELIGIOUS  FREEDOM  IN 

largely  in  the  hands  of  clergymen ;  and  these 
institutions,  as  a  rule,  had  very  close  relations 
with  some  denomination,  while  they  were  com- 
monly supported  because  of  the  aid  which  they 
contributed  to  religion  in  general  and  to  a  cer- 
tain form  of  theology  in  particular.  The  col- 
lege was  founded  as  the  means  to  a  specific  end, 
and  that  end  was  chiefly  the  training  of  ministers 
and  the  good  of  a  particular  church. 

Before  1850,  Horace  Mann  was  conspicuous  as 
one  of  the  few  laymen  who,  up  to  that  time, 
had  done  distinguished  service  for  the  cause  of 
public  education.  And  as  late  as  1860  the  man 
who  had  accomplished  more  than  any  one  else 
in  developing  the  ideals  of  University  training 
in  our  country  was  a  clergyman,  Eev.  Dr. 
Henry  P.  Tappan.  Much  of  the  work  done  for 
education  in  the  "West  by  the  States  themselves 
in  those  early  times  was  inspired  and  directed 
by  ministers.  This  was  notably  the  case  in 
Michigan,  where  John  D.  Pierce,  a  minister, 
did  a  great  work,  not  only  in  helping  to  create 
the  State  University  (1837),  but  in  organizing 
the  common  school  system  and  in  pleading  for  the 
professional  instruction  of  teachers  in  a  Normal 


AMERICAN  EDUCATION  95 

School,  which  was  established  in  1852, — the  first 
west  of  the  Hudson  Eiver. 

(2)  When  the  new  commonwealths  began  to 
come  into  existence  in  the  great  Northwest,  these 
States  took  up  the  problems  of  education  from 
a  fresh  point  of  view  and  in  an  original  spirit. 
The  statesmen  who  led  in  these  matters  (and 
among  them  were  some  men  of  large  and  noble 
ideals)  had  a  free  hand  such  as  nation-builders 
have  seldom  enjoyed. 

There  were  special  influences  at  work  favor- 
able not  only  to  institutions  of  higher  educa- 
tion, but  to  institutions  of  a  non- clerical  and 
secular  character.  In  the  first  place,  such  mat- 
ters as  religious  liberty  and  the  separation  of 
church  and  State  were  at  the  front  in  the  public 
mind  ;  and  very  clear  ideas  had  come  into  promi- 
nence, which  are  embodied  in  the  constitutions 
of  these  States.  In  the  next  place,  the  public 
lands,  set  apart  for  educational  purposes  by  the 
acts  of  Congress  organizing  these  States,  made 
the  creation  of  colleges  and  Universities  an  easy 
and  a  necessary  undertaking.  And,  in  the  last 
place,  the  influence  of  Jefferson,  to  which  al- 
lusion   has    been    made,    was    of    considerable 


96  RELIGIOUS  FREEDOM  IN 

weight.  These  and  other  causes  brought  into 
existence  the  State  Universities  that  have  grown 
to  very  large  proportions  and  very  great  in- 
fluence. 

These  State  institutions,  of  necessity,  followed 
the  secular  character  of  the  States  creating  them. 
Being  maintained  by  the  whole  people  for  the 
whole  people,  these  schools  must  be  neutral  re- 
specting matters  of  dogma  and  rite.  This  was 
not  realized  at  once,  but  a  common  movement 
toward  the  position  was  inevitable  :  it  was  im- 
plicated in  the  situation.  Here  was  a  new  type 
of  educational  institution,  created  not  by  cler- 
gymen for  the  church,  but  by  statesmen  for  the 
commonwealth.  It  received  support  from  all 
the  people,  and  it  served  the  interests  of  all 
classes.  It  was  not  fostered  by  a  single  group  of 
churchmen  to  further  the  interests  of  one  denom- 
ination. With  a  broader  basis,  a  larger  spirit, 
and  a  more  ample  support,  no  wonder  that  the 
State  Universities  have  grown  faster  than  the  4 
neighboring  denominational  colleges.  They  have 
not  only  developed  in  response  to  the  logic  of 
the  situation  a  non- clerical  and  secular  ideal 
and  method  of  education  in  themselves,  but  they 


AMERICAN  EDUCATION  97 

have  also  led  these  other  schools  to  decided  prog- 
ress in  the  same  direction. 

The  change  that  has  come  over  educational 
affairs  in  the  Central  West,  largely  due  to  these 
State  Universities,  is  well  indicated  by  the  simple 
comparison  of  the  number  of  students  in  them 
and  in  denominational  colleges  in  the  same 
States.  In  the  State  University  of  Iowa,  1,600 
students :  in  the  largest  denominational  institu- 
tion in  Iowa,  less  than  300  collegiate  students. 
In  the  State  University  of  Minnesota,  3,500  stu- 
dents :  in  the  largest  denominational  institution 
in  Minnesota,  150  collegiate  students,  and  only 
800  in  the  eight  church  schools  of  college  rank. 
In  the  State  University  of  Nebraska,  2,400  stu- 
dents :  in  the  largest  denominational  institution 
in  Nebraska,  150  collegiate  students.  The  fig- 
ures for  Kansas  are  1,200  and  200.  In  the  State 
University  of  Michigan,  4,000  ;  and,  in  the  largest 
denominational  institution  in  Michigan,  some 
225  collegiate  students,  about  800  in  the  eight 
church  schools.  In  the  two  great  Universities 
in  California,  State  and  Leland  Stanford,  Jr., 
non-sectarian,  there  are  over  5,000  students :  in 
the  ten   denominational   institutions   of  higher 


98  '    RELIGIOUS  FREEDOM  IN 

learning  in  California,  some  800  students  of  col- 
lege rank.  These  facts  do  not  discredit  the 
work  of  denominational  colleges,  but  they  do 
show  the  present  strong  tendency  in  favor  of 
State  Universities. 

(3)  It  is  obvious  that  the  educational  tendency 
to-day  is  overwhelmingly  toward  non- clerical 
and  non-sectarian  institutions.  And  in  addition 
to  the  influence  of  State  Universities,  just  men- 
tioned, it  must  be  borne  in  mind  that  the  spirit 
and  attitude  of  Harvard  University  have  been 
potent  factors  in  bringing  about  the  emancipa- 
tion of  education  in  America  from  theological 
limitations  and  ecclesiastical  bonds.  For  nearly 
a  century  that  institution  has  stood  against  sec- 
tarianism in  earnest  advocacy  of  religious  free- 
dom in  education. 

Many  small  colleges,  that  were  once  decidedly 
denominational,  such  as  Eutgers,  Bowdoin,  Ober- 
lin,  Knox,  Hamilton,  and  Beloit,  now  claim  to 
be  non-sectarian.  The  religious  spirit  has  not 
been  abandoned  in  these  institutions,  but  secta- 
rian zeal  has  been  outgrown, — a  significant  and 
hopeful  condition.  Many  others,  like  Yale,  Co- 
lumbia, Smith,  and  Western  Eeserve,  that  still 


AMERICAN  EDUCATION  99 

have  very  close  relations  with  certain  churches, 
have  become  practically  non-sectarian,  but  with- 
out becoming  non-religious.  This  tendency  is 
forcibly  expressed  in  the  fact  that  laymen  are 
presidents  of  Yale  and  Princeton.  Probably  as 
remarkable  and  significant  a  fact  as  can  be 
found  in  this  connection  is  the  movement  toward 
the  non-sectarian  position  of  theological  schools, 
—  fully  reached  at  Harvard,  while  Union 
Theological  Seminary  has  become  interdenomi- 
national. 

(4)  What  does  all  this  really  mean  to  the 
ministry?  to  the  church?  to  religion?  to  the 
college?  to  the  State?  These  are  questions  of 
profound  importance.  And  it  is  an  encouraging 
circumstance  that  hopeful  answers  can  be  truly 
made  to  them  all. 

There  may  be  here  a  loss  of  certain  positions 
and  privileges  once  enjoyed  by  the  clergyman. 
But  these  changes  really  represent  gains  to  him 
and  to  the  community.  He  may  well  rejoice 
that  the  area  of  educational  interest  and 
capacity  has  extended  far  beyond  the  clerical 
profession,  and  that  his  own  hands  are  now  left 
free  for  other  and  more  pressing  duties.     And 


100  RELIGIOUS  FREEDOM  IN 

the  community  is  better  off  in  having  others  do 
this  work  as  specialists,  while  the  change  enables 
the  minister  to  do  his  work  better  as  a  specialist. 

The  disappearance  of  the  clergyman  from  edu- 
cational prominence  does  not  mean  disrespect 
for  him  or  indifference  to  religion.  It  means 
simply  a  clearer  recognition  of  the  secular  char- 
acter of  the  State  and  of  the  need  of  specializa- 
tion in  both  directions,  while  it  also  represents  a 
wider  interest  in  education. 

These  transformations  in  the  educational 
world  are  advantageous  to  religion  and  to  the 
church.  They  help  to  strip  piety  of  narrowness, 
while  they  relieve  the  church  of  many  heavy 
burdens.  Eeligion  puts  off  its  sectarian  zeal, 
and  becomes  more  human  and  more  spiritual. 
The  church,  in  withdrawing  from  the  tasks  of 
sectarian  education,  now  has  all  its  energies  for 
the  things  of  the  spirit,  that  are  its  special  and 
peculiar  contribution  to  the  enrichment  and 
progress  of  mankind.  The  religious  motive  re- 
mains, but  it  operates  in  broader  channels  and 
flows  in  other  directions.  Men  are  not  less  re- 
ligious, but  religion  is  less  dogmatic. 

The  college  is  not  destitute  of  piety  because 


AMERICAN  EDUCATION  ipi 

)  » *   f    '  .1 
clergymen  are  at  present  seldom  professors  and 

courses  in  u  Christian  Evidences  "  have  vanished 
from  the  curriculum.  This  non-sectarian  edu- 
cation is  profoundly  religious  in  the  best  sense, 
when  really  efficient  education,  because  it  neces- 
sarily deals  with  the  inherent  spiritualities  of 
life.  And  the  very  fact  that  the  instructor  has 
no  clerical  garb  or  sectarian  intent,  being  simply 
a  man  among  men,  often  makes  the  religious  im- 
port of  the  facts  handled  more  vital  and  impres- 
sive. The  intellectual  product  of  the  class-room 
and  laboratory  solely  devoted  to  biology  is  obvi- 
ously greater  than  where  instruction  in  dogma 
is  added  and  conformity  to  creed  is  demanded. 
And  the  religious  fruitage  will  in  the  end  un- 
doubtedly be  superior. 

These  changes  have  been  advantageous  to  the 
State.  It  is  good  for  the  State  to  stand  apart 
from  all  the  theological  disputes  and  sectarian  i 
controversies  of  its  various  classes.  It  is  good 
for  the  State  to  be  engaged  actively  in  pouring 
out  its  treasures  and  exerting  its  energies  for  the 
development  of  all  its  citizens  with  no  other 
object  in  view  than  efficient  citizenship.  It  is 
good  for  the  American  State  to  demonstrate  to 


.  ..,.102    ♦    •••        RELIGIOUS  FREEDOM 
•  V  *  •  .      .    *  • 

the  world  that  the  church  can  not  only  live,  but 
prosper  more  abundantly,  when  left  free  from 
governmental  patronage ;  and  that  education 
becomes  more  effective  when  freed  from  church 
bonds  and  sectarian  zeal,  and  enabled  to  devote 
itself  to  the  simple  but  supreme  task  of  per- 
fecting the  humanity  of  man. 


RELIGION  IN  DENOMINATIONAL 
INSTITUTIONS 


RELIGION   IN  DENOMINATIONAL 
INSTITUTIONS 

There  are  in  the  United  States  upwards  of 
five  hundred  institutions  of  higher  education 
that  bear  the  name  college  or  University. 
After  setting  aside  the  Catholic  and  the  State 
schools  (approximately  70  and  80  respectively), 
350  are  left ;  and  of  these  about  300  have  been 
and  are  still  closely  connected  with  some  Protes- 
tant denomination.  They  were  founded  and 
have  been  supported  to  educate  the  ministers 
and  promote  the  interests  of  some  particular 
church.  About  100  of  these  are  very  small 
schools,  with  less  than  100  collegiate  students 
(probably  less  than  4,000  such  students  in  all 
of  them)  ;  and  they  hardly  deserve  to  rank  as 
colleges. 

The  remaining  200  institutions  fall  into  two 
divisions  of  about  equal  size.  About  100 
frankly  report  themselves  as  denominational, 
while  about  the  same  number  call  themselves 

105 


106  RELIGIOUS  FREEDOM  IN 

non- sectarian.  These  institutions  with  definite 
church  relations  are  widely  scattered  geographi- 
cally, and  they  represent  almost  every  form  of 
Protestant  faith.  Among  them  may  be  men- 
tioned such  colleges  as  Carleton  (Congregational, 
Minnesota),  Concordia  (Lutheran,  Wisconsin), 
Bates  (Free  Baptist,  Maine),  Hobart  (Episcopal, 
New  York),  Allegheny  (Methodist,  Pennsyl- 
vania), "Wake  Forest  (Baptist,  North  Carolina), 
Buchtel  (Universalist,  Ohio),  Washington  and 
Jefferson  (Presbyterian,  Pennsylvania),  and  such 
Universities  as  Eochester  (Baptist,  New  York), 
Lawrence  (Methodist,  Wisconsin),  St.  Lawrence 
(Universalist,  New  York),  De  Pauw  (Methodist, 
Indiana),  Kentucky  (Disciple),  Lincoln  (Pres- 
byterian, Pennsylvania),  and  Susquehanna  (Lu- 
theran, Pennsylvania).  In  nearly  all  these  in- 
stitutions compulsory  attendance  on  daily  chapel 
exercises  (usually  held  in  the  morning  and  oc- 
cupying some  fifteen  minutes)  is  the  rule.  This 
is  what  might  be  expected,  as  they  are  the 
product  of  a  definite  denominational  enthusiasm, 
and  they  exist  to  propagate  a  certain  form  of 
religious  belief. 
In  the  main,  the  chapel  exercises  in  these 


AMERICAN  EDUCATION  107 

schools  have  undergone  few  changes  in  form  and 
spirit.  And  yet  more  attractive  mnsic  has  been 
added  in  most  of  them,  and  responsive  reading 
of  the  Psalms  and  repetition  in  concert  of  the 
Lord's  Prayer  have  recently  come  into  use  in 
many.  In  only  a  few  colleges  of  this  class  are 
there  paid  chaplains.  Members  of  the  faculty 
(usually  there  are  several  ordained  ministers 
among  the  professors)  conduct  the  religious 
services.  In  a  large  majority  of  these  institu- 
tions church  attendance  on  Sunday  is  required, 
either  in  the  college  chapel  or  at  some  neighbor- 
ing church.  The  Universalist  colleges  leave 
church  attendance  free,  but  maintain  com- 
pulsory chapel  services. 

A  few  of  these  institutions  present  interesting 
and  exceptional  features.  Cumberland  Univer- 
sity, Tennessee  (Cumberland  Presbyterian), 
bravely  leaves  attendance  on  both  chapel  and 
church  perfectly  free,  but  secures  the  presence 
of  90  per  cent,  of  the  students.  At  Drake 
University,  Des  Moines,  la.  (Disciple), —  with 
1,850  students  in  all  departments,  —  attendance 
at  daily  chapel  is  voluntary,  but  expected  j  and 
85  per  cent,  of  the  students  are  usually  present. 


108  RELIGIOUS  FREEDOM  IN 

The  changes  recently  made  in  the  services  at 
Drake  are  reported  to  be  "in  the  direction  of 
less  severity  and  seriousness,  but  more  joyous 
and  educational."  In  one  Congregational  col- 
lege (Iowa)  voluntary  attendance  was  substituted 
for  compulsory  some  thirteen  years  ago  ;  and 
two-thirds  of  the  students  are  reported  as  being 
present.  The  president  adds,  "  There  is  be- 
lieved to  be  an  improvement  in  all  lines  leading 
to  normal  religious  living/ ' — a  hopeful  state- 
ment in  many  ways.  It  is  interesting  to  note 
that  in  two  large  institutions  (Boston  University 
and  Syracuse  University),  with  very  definite  re- 
ligious spirit  and  in  close  relation  with  the 
Methodist  church,  attendance  at  chapel  is  vol- 
untary, and  yet  a  large  number  of  students  are 
regularly  present.  Probably  the  fact  that  these 
are  comparatively  new  institutions  accounts 
somewhat  for  the  voluntary  system. 

At  Hardin  College,  Mexico,  Mo.  (200  stu- 
dents), a  Baptist  school,  chapel  exercises  were 
suspended  recently  for  a  year  as  an  experiment. 
But  the  students  themselves  were  not  satisfied. 
The  services  at  present  are  evidently  very  human 
and  practical,  with  a  survey  of  current  events 


AMERICAN  EDUCATION  109 

once  a  month.  The  spirit  of  Hardin  College  is 
evidently  quite  different  from  that  of  a  Presby- 
terian college  in  Pennsylvania,  whose  president 
writes:  "All  students  attend  chapel.  We  do 
not  require  it ;  but  it  is  distinctly  understood 
that  a  student  who  does  not  care  to  attend  is 
not  wanted  here.  !No  objection  has  ever  been 
made"  !    The  reason  is  obvious. 

In  these  denominational  colleges  more  or  less 
religious  instruction  is  given  as  a  rule.  Courses 
in  Bible  study  are  provided.  But  various 
broadening  tendencies  have  been  at  work  even 
here.  Some  institutions  have  either  wholly 
abandoned  or  materially  curtailed  these  studies. 
What  were  once  compulsory  have  in  others  be- 
come elective ;  while  the  spirit  that  pervades 
this  department,  where  it  still  remains,  is  much 
more  catholic  and  progressive  than  in  former 
years. 

There  is  another  point  in  this  connection  of 
decided  interest.  It  is  the  fact  that  in  some  of 
the  more  sectarian  schools  of  this  class  the  chapel 
exercise  has  been  more  or  less  secularized.  The 
daily  meeting  is  more  and  more  utilized,  as  one 
University  president  puts  it,    "as  an  opportu- 


HO  RELIGIOUS  FREEDOM  IN 

nity  for  general  college  business  of  interest  to 
students  "  !  It  has  lost  much  of  its  formal  sanc- 
timonious and  theological  character,  and  it  has 
become  a  place  for  college  announcements  and 
general  remarks, —  less  a  religious  exercise  and 
more  an  educational  gathering.  This  tendency 
is  almost  everywhere  at  work  to-day.  In  many 
cases,  discussion  of  current  topics  is  a  common 
feature  of  the  chapel  exercise,  even  in  these  de- 
nominational institutions.  It  may  be  questioned 
whether  this  change  is  helpful  to  religious  cult- 
ure, but  it  is  certainly  a  significant  change. 

The  other  group  of  one  hundred  colleges  and 
Universities  (as  a  rule  larger  and  older  than 
those  that  we  have  just  been  considering  and 
generally  as  denominational  as  these  in  their 
origin  and  early  history)  report  themselves  as 
non-sectarian.  But  this  term  is  quite  inade- 
quate in  this  connection.  It  is  neither  felicitous 
nor  descriptive.  Many  of  these  institutions  still 
have  a  decided  theological  bias.  They  are  not 
neutral  on  the  subject  of  dogma,  nor  are  they 
hospitable  to  all  form  of  religious  belief.  The 
atmosphere  in  many  of  them  is  positively  un- 
friendly to  Jews,  Catholics,  Agnostics,  Univer- 


AMERICAN  EDUCATION  m 

salists,  and  Unitarians.  The  term  as  used  simply 
means  that  these  schools  stand  for  the  central 
Orthodox  views  of  religion, —  non-sectarian  only 
in  the  sense  that  the  Y.  M.  C.  A.  is  non-sectarian. 
They  are  interdenominational ;  that  is,  Baptists, 
Methodists,  Congregationalists,  and  others  in 
general  agreement  with  these  religious  bodies 
are  all  treated  hospitably,  and  only  the  funda- 
mentals of  Orthodoxy  are  emphasized.  Some 
better  term  is  needed  in  this  connection,  though 
it  is  difficult  to  supply  one  that  just  fits  the  case  : 
the  word  " secular' }  does  not  describe  them, 
much  less  does  "non-religious." 

Of  these  one  hundred  so-called  non- sectarian 
institutions,  about  one-half  have  not  only  a  very 
definite  religious  spirit,  but  a  very  decided  theo- 
logical atmosphere.  Princeton  is  strongly  Pres- 
byterian :  so  is  Union, — probably  as  much  so 
as  Lake  Forest  that  frankly  ranks  itself  Presby- 
terian. Oberlin  calls  itself  non-sectarian,  and 
yet  it  is  as  fully  pervaded  with  the  denomina- 
tional spirit  as  Trinity.  Brown,  though  claiming 
to  be  non-sectarian,  is  probably  as  much  of 
a  Baptist  institution  as  Colgate  or  Eochester. 
Bryn   Mawr  is  as  definitely  devoted  to  the  in- 


112  RELIGIOUS  FREEDOM  IN 

terests  of  the  Friends,  though  it  calls  itself  non- 
sectarian,  as  Syracuse  University  is  devoted  to 
the  cause  of  the  Methodist  church,  which  it 
openly  claims  to  be.  Bowdoin  is  definitely, 
though  not  narrowly,  Congregational :  so  are 
Amherst,  Beloit,  Mount  Holyoke,  and  Knox. 
They  no  more  deserve  this  term  than  Hobart, 
Bates,  Allegheny,  and  Olivet,  which  frankly 
keep  certain  denominational  names.  Cumber- 
land University,  an  institution  founded  by  the 
Cumberland  Presbyterians,  is  administered  with 
more  breadth  of  spirit  than  many  of  these 
schools,  attendance  on  chapel  and  church  being 
voluntary,  as  has  just  been  stated,  and  it  is  more 
deserving  of  the  title  non-sectarian  in  some  re- 
spects than  the  group  of  colleges  named  above ; 
and  yet  it  does  not  assume  to  take  it. 

That  these  institutions  call  themselves  non- 
sectarian  is,  however,  a  significant  accommoda- 
tion to  the  spirit  of  the  times  j  and  the  truth  is 
that  they  have  made  commendable  progress 
toward  freedom  in  religion.  But  the  fact  must 
be  borne  in  mind  that  they  are  not  theologically 
neutral,  but  committed  to  a  definite  doctrinal 
position.    This  is  not  stated  by  way  of  criticism, 


AMERICAN  EDUCATION  113 

but  only  for  the  purpose  of  accurate  description. 
Some  people  think  that  they  are  non-sectarian 
when  they  allow  their  neighbors  liberty  respect- 
ing the  mere  details  of  belief ;  but  a  school  is 
made  really  non-sectarian,  not  by  its  attitude  to 
the  incidental  features  of  theology,  but  by  its  in- 
clusive policy  and  appreciative  spirit  in  refer- 
ence to  the  fundamentals  of  religion. 

In  these  fifty  so-called  non-sectarian  institu- 
tions with  decided  theological  character,  to 
which  reference  has  just  been  made,  attendance 
on  daily  chapel  exercises  is,  as  a  rule,  compul- 
sory. In  most  of  them  attendance  at  church  on 
Sunday  is  required,  either  in  college  chapel  or 
neighboring  church.  Some,  like  Amherst  and 
Williams,  have  college  churches  separate  from 
the  village  church  of  the  same  denomination. 
Students,  however,  are  generally  allowed  to  fol- 
low the  wishes  of  their  parents.  In  Eockford 
College,  Illinois,  for  women,  compulsory  church 
attendance  is  imposed  by  the  students  them- 
selves. Certainly,  institutions  with  such  rigid 
rules  and  such  definite  ideals  strongly  enforced 
are  hardly  entitled  to  the  name  "non-sectarian." 

In  about  25  colleges  and  Universities  like  La 


114  RELIGIOUS  FREEDOM  IN 

Fayette  College,  Alabama,  Washington  Uni- 
versity (broadly  non- sectarian  from  the  begin- 
ning), St.  Lonis,  Boston  University,  Bryn 
Mawr,  Smith,  and  Barnard,  chapel  exercises  are 
held  daily  j  bnt  attendance  is  voluntary,  from  20 
per  cent,  to  80  per  cent,  of  the  students  being 
present.  In  these  and  kindred  institutions  forced 
attendance  at  church  on  Sunday  is  the  exception. 
Some  of  our  Universities  (not  State  institu- 
tions), a  few  among  our  oldest  institutions,  once 
definitely  denominational,  like  Harvard  and 
Yale,  but  the  larger  number  more  recently  es- 
tablished, like  Cornell,  Leland  Stanford,  Jr., 
Johns  Hopkins,  Clark,  and  Tulane  (these  never 
even  denominational),  occupy  a  truly  non-sec- 
tarian position,  what  may  better  be  called  a 
position  of  religious  neutrality, — hospitable  to 
religion,  but  free  from  theological  bias.  In 
these  institutions  a  chapel  exercise  is  maintained 
(daily  in  a  majority)  ;  and  in  some  of  these 
other  regular  religious  services  are  held,  but,  as 
a  rule,  attendance  is  voluntary.  The  spirit 
is  very  broad  and  inclusive.  There  is  more 
than  toleration  :  there  is  large  liberty  and  wide 
appreciation.     What  is  done  in  the  direction 


AMERICAN  EDUCATION  115 

of  religious  culture  by  these  institutions,  with 
the  exception  of  Yale,  will  be  described  in  a 
separate  chapter. 

Yale  University  presents  a  very  interesting 
example  of  religious  evolution.  It  was  created 
by  a  deep  religious  impulse.  It  has  for  many 
years  been  the  home  of  a  very  definite  theo- 
logical spirit  and  ideal.  During  the  nineteenth 
century  the  conservatives  of  New  England  re- 
garded it  and  rejoiced  in  it  as  the  defender  of 
their  faith.  Its  present  situation  shows  how 
the  policy  of  an  institution  may  be  broadened, 
while  at  the  same  time  its  religious  life  may  be 
enriched  and  deepened. 

Yale  still  maintains  compulsory  daily  chapel 
for  the  students  of  the  college  proper.  Those  in 
other  departments  are  not  obliged  to  attend,  but 
the  college  chapel  is  open  to  them ;  and  many 
are  present  at  the  Sunday  morning  preaching 
service,  but  not  at  the  daily  prayers.  In  the 
college  proper  students  must  attend  the  college 
church  on  Sunday  morning  or  some  other  neigh- 
boring church  approved  by  their  parents.  Here 
the  compulsory  policy  is  maintained,  but  it  is 
administered  with  so  much  breadth  and  inclu- 


116  RELIGIOUS  FREEDOM  IN 

siveness  that  better  results  than  usual  are  se- 
cured. 

The  following  statement,  from  the  secretary 
of  the  University,  Eev.  Anson  Phelps  Stokes, 
Jr.,  a  man  deeply  interested  in  religion  and 
thoroughly  committed  to  freedom  and  catholic- 
ity, is  of  importance  :  — 

"  There  is  an  acting  pastor  of  the  College 
Church,  whose  main  duty  is  to  preside  at  the 
Communion  Service,  held  on  the  first  Sunday 
of  each  month.  He  also  keeps  regular  consul- 
tation hours,  when  students  may  talk  with  him 
personally.  The  conduct  of  the  morning  prayers 
is,  however,  left  to  eight  officers  of  the  Uni- 
versity, chosen  by  the  President.  They  are 
most  of  them  laymen  in  close  touch  with  the 
student  body. 

"I  cannot  describe  in  detail  the  changes 
which  have  taken  place  in  the  last  twenty -five 
years.  There  has,  however,  been  a  most  marked 
improvement  in  the  last  five  years.  This  has 
been  due  to  several  causes.  In  the  first  place, 
the  men  who  conduct  prayers  are  men  with 
sufficiently  good  voices  to  be  heard  all  through 
the  building.     Then,    too,  there    is    a  regular 


AMERICAN  EDUCATION  117 

form  of  service  which  has  the  marks  both  of 
simplicity  and  dignity.  It  has  been  fonnd  that 
set  forms  of  prayer,  taken  either  from  the  Book 
of  Common  Prayer  or  other  collections,  are  pre- 
ferred by  the  students  in  the  long  run. 

"I  should  perhaps  add  here  that  one  of  the 
most  vital  forces  for  good  in  the  University  is 
the  preaching  service  on  Sunday.  Twenty  or 
thirty  years  ago  it  was  the  custom  to  draw 
almost  entirely  from  members  of  the  College 
Faculty  and  the  College  Pastor  for  this  preach- 
ing service.  ETow  we  get  the  strongest  men 
from  all  denominations,  Congregationalists,  Epis- 
copalians, Unitarians,  and  others.  I  think  it 
can  be  said  with  truth  that  the  majority  of 
students  enjoy  the  service  and  get  great  help 
from  it.  I  know  of  nothing  more  stimulating 
anywhere  than  the  Sunday  service  at  Yale,  as 
it  is  at  present  conducted.  The  President  of 
the  University,  a  layman,  always  presides,  as  he 
does  also  at  morning  prayers ;  and  the  service 
is  conducted  by  the  visiting  preacher.  We 
make  a  special  point  of  having  the  sermon  brief, 
the  regular  time  being  from  twenty  to  twenty- 
five  minutes.     It  is  found  that  the  simpler  the 


118  RELIGIOUS  FREEDOM  IN 

sermon  and  the  more  direct  the  appeal,  the  more 
helpful.  The  morning  preacher  also  keeps  con- 
sultation hours  Sunday  afternoon.  This  gives 
an  opportunity  to  men  who  are  in  difficulty  or 
doubt  to  have  a  good  straight  talk  with  a  man 
of  broad  experience.  There  has  been  the  most 
marked  improvement  in  the  past  five  or  six 
years  in  the  demeanor  of  men  at  all  exercises  in 
the  chapel,  and  there  are  few  men  on  the 
Faculty  at  Yale  who  do  not  believe  that  the  ser- 
vices as  at  present  conducted  are  a  powerful 
moral  and  religious  force  in  the  community." 

The  great  colleges  for  women  in  our  country 
are  Christian  in  origin  and  spirit, —  Mount  Hol- 
yoke,  Wellesley,  Smith,  Yassar,  and  Bryn  Mawr. 
But  what  there  was  of  sectarian  spirit  in  the 
earliest  founded  has  largely  been  eliminated.  A 
competent  authority  (Mary  Breese  Fuller)  has 
interestingly  described  their  present  religious 
conditions  :  — 

"If  there  is  any  small  difference  in  the  out- 
ward manifestation  of  the  religious  life  between 
the  colleges  for  men  and  those  for  women,  the 
latter  institutions  show  it  more  spontaneously, 
with  more  individuality.     Two  facts  illustrate 


AMERICAN  EDUCATION  119 

this  point.  Attendance  at  church  and  chapel 
exercises  is  in  most  cases  required  of  college  men. 
The  majority  of  college  women  are  not  required 
to  attend  the  same  exercises.  Consequently,  full 
benches  in  Bryn  Mawr  or  Wellesley  represent 
voluntary  expression  of  this  side  of  college 
spirit.  Again,  the  majority  of  men's  colleges 
have  an  identical  basis  for  their  Christian  work. 
The  principal  student  religious  organizations  in 
each  college  are  affiliated  with  the  intercolle- 
giate Y.  M.  C.  A.  and  the  World's  Student  Fed- 
eration. But  of  the  largest  women's  colleges 
each  has  a  different  basis  for  its  religious  associa- 
tion, only  one  of  which  is  affiliated  with  the 
general  federation.  Which  of  the  two  situations 
is  most  desirable  is  a  matter  for  discussion  else- 
where. 

"The  official  religious  life  is  much  the  same 
in  colleges  of  all  kinds  the  world  over.  In- 
variably there  is  a  morning  chapel  service.  A 
service  on  Sunday  afternoon  or  a  week-day 
evening  is  held  in  addition,  addressed  by  mem- 
bers of  the  faculty  or  speakers  from  a  distance. 
Yassar  and  Wellesley  have  their  Sunday  morn- 
ing service  at  home,  with  a  variety  of  distin- 


120  RELIGIOUS  FREEDOM  IN 

guished  preachers ;  but  Mount  Holyoke,  Bryn 
Mawr,  and  Smith,  where  '  gown  and  town '  are 
close  together,  share  in  the  ordinary  local  church 
services.  The  loyalty  to  the  official  services 
varies  according  to  the  leader  and  the  conven- 
ience of  the  chapel  site.  The  college  which  has 
known  but  one  president  is  naturally  most  re- 
sponsive to  its  services.  On  the  other  hand,  the 
college  authorities  are,  as  a  rule,  in  sympathy 
with  the  religious  work  of  the  students.  They 
are  consulted  in  regard  to  its  development,  are 
members  of  the  organizations,  and  sometimes 
conduct  Normal,  Bible,  or  Mission  Study  classes. 
One  president  plans  to  make  the  subject  of  his 
vesper  talks  the  same  as  those  of  the  class  prayer- 
meetings  on  Sunday  evening.' ' 

Indications  of  Progress. 
1.  There  has  been  in  the  past  generation  a 
marked  movement  among  denominational  col- 
leges and  Universities  away  from  the  sectarian 
spirit  toward  an  interdenominational  position. 
It  is  a  significant  fact  that  a  hundred  of  these 
institutions,  some  of  the  oldest  and  many  of 
the  largest,  report  themselves  as  non-sectarian. 


AMERICAN  EDUCATION  121 

They  have  not  reached  complete  religious  free- 
dom or  theological  neutrality,  but  they  have 
made  notable  progress  in  this  direction.  More- 
over, in  nearly  all  of  those  which  keep  some 
church  name  or  affiliation  there  has  been  a 
commendable  broadening  of  spirit  and  ideal,  so 
that  almost  everywhere  students  of  different 
faiths  are  not  made  uncomfortable,  but  are 
treated  with  consideration.  The  institutions 
more  recently  created  by  denominational  en- 
thusiasm have,  as  a  rule,  been  given  a  broader 
policy  than  was  formerly  allowed, — a  hopeful 
indication  of  adjustment  to  the  modern  spirit. 
In  the  main,  the  institutions  of  this  class  have 
grown  the  most  rapidly  that  have  responded 
the  most  quickly  and  most  loyally  to  the  de- 
mand for  religious  liberty. 

2.  Compulsory  chapel  is  still  common  in  these 
colleges  and  Universities.  In  many,  church  at- 
tendance is  required  on  Sunday.  But,  while  the 
old  system  remains,  it  is  generally  administered 
in  a  new  spirit.  The  chapel  exercise  has  been 
transformed  in  recent  years.  It  has  almost 
everywhere  been  given  a  modernness  of  tone, 
sometimes  even  a  secular  character, — a  freshness 


122  RELIGIOUS  FREEDOM  IN 

and  brightness  making  it  more  acceptable  to 
young  people.  The  custom  of  calling  into  ser- 
vice a  number  of  speakers,  representing  differ- 
ent churches,  has  helped  to  broaden  and  vitalize 
this  exercise  that  has  so  commonly  been  a  dead 
and  deadening  formality.  And  experience 
shows  that,  where  the  broadest  spirit  has  come 
into  the  administration  of  this  side  of  college  life, 
there  the  religious  interest  is  keenest  and  most 
active  among  students.  Those  institutions  that 
have  moved  farthest  toward  the  voluntary  sys- 
tem and  those  that  have  reached  the  greatest 
catholicity  report  the  best  religious  conditions. 
This  appeal  to  life  proves  that  religion  gains 
when  bonds  are  broken  and  freedom  is  granted. 
3.  Considerations  of  religious  belief  probably 
still  have  great  weight  in  the  selection  of  profes- 
sors for  a  large  majority  of  these  institutions. 
But  even  here  progress  has  been  made.  It  is 
now  very  seldom  that  a  college  president  goes 
abroad  over  the  land,  as  was  done  a  few  years 
ago,  to  find  a  Baptist  chemist  or  a  Trinitarian 
geologist !  Instructors  are  not  at  present,  as 
formerly,  kept  in  bonds  to  creed  and  catechism. 
Freedom  of  academic  instruction  has  recently 


AMERICAN  EDUCATION  123 

made  great  gains  in  these  schools.  The  govern- 
ing boards  of  many  denominational  colleges 
would  not  elect  as  president  a  man  outside  the 
fellowship  with  which  the  school  is  connected ; 
and,  other  things  being  equal,  they  would,  as  a 
rule,  favor  for  professional  positions  men  and 
women  of  their  own  type  of  theology.  But  it 
is  a  fact  that  in  the  faculties  of  many  of  these 
colleges  and  Universities  an  increasing  number 
of  persons  are  found  who  hold  different  creeds  j 
and  it  is  becoming  more  and  more  rare  for  ec- 
clesiastics to  enter  the  class-room  of  even  de- 
nominational institutions  with  inquisitorial  eye 
or  with  the  ban  of  the  church. 


NORMAL  SCHOOLS  AND  AGRICULT- 
URAL COLLEGES 


NORMAL    SCHOOLS    AND   AGRICULT- 
URAL  COLLEGES 

We  come  now  to  the  consideration  of  the  re- 
ligions conditions  of  several  groups  of  educa- 
tional institutions,  quite  different  in  aim  and 
quality  of  work,  but  alike  in  this :  they  are  all 
State  institutions.  They  also  differ  widely  in 
many  ways  from  both  denominational  colleges 
on  the  one  hand  and  from  State  Universities 
on  the  other  hand.  Let  us  first  study  the  reli- 
gious situation  as  it  is  presented  in  our  Normal 
Schools. 

There  are  over  one  hundred  and  fifty  State 
and  city  Normal  Schools  in  the  United  States 
with  nearly  50,000  students.  In  over  four-fifths 
of  these  attendance  on  chapel  exercises  every 
school  day  is  compulsory.  There  are  apparently 
no  geographical  differences  in  this  particular. 
It  is  an  interesting  fact  that,  in  most  cases  where 
State  Universities  have  adopted  the  voluntary 
system  or  abandoned  chapel  services  altogether, 

127 


128  RELIGIOUS  FREEDOM  IN 

the  Normal  Schools  of  the  same  States  still  main- 
tain the  compulsory  rule. 

There  are  obvious  reasons  for  this  difference, 
and  prominent  among  them  these :  (1)  The 
boards  and  faculties  having  charge  of  these 
schools  are  in  general  composed  of  a  more  con- 
servative class  of  persons  than  those  who  shape 
the  policies  of  State  Universities.  They  are  per- 
sons in  whom  the  old  church  spirit  and  ideal  are 
still  strong.  (2)  As  the  students  are  younger  or 
less  mature,  there  is  a  common  feeling  that  they 
ought  not  to  be  left  at  such  an  age  free  from  re- 
ligious culture  and  admonition.  (3)  Probably 
also  because  of  the  fact  that  the  task  of  the  teacher 
is  still  so  intimately  associated  in  the  public 
mind  with  the  interests  of  religion,  it  has  been 
felt  necessary  to  provide  a  religious  atmosphere 
for  the  school  that  trains  men  and  women  for 
the  high  and  holy  duty  of  instructing  children. 

Some  of  the  reports  from  Normal  Schools 
state  that  students  are  excused  from  chapel, 
if  the  request  is  made  on  the  ground  of  conscien- 
tious scruples ;  and  then  it  is  added,  Practically 
no  such  requests  are  made.  Of  course  not.  And 
the  existence  of  such  a  rule  does  not  guarantee 


AMERICAN  EDUCATION  129 

theological  neutrality.  Something  more  than 
this  must  be  done  to  secure  perfect  religious 
freedom.  Even  if  attendance  were  quite  dis- 
tasteful and  considered  positively  unjust  by 
many  students,  it  is  obvious  that  few  would  ask 
to  be  excused,  as  this  would  make  them  subject 
to  comment.  Few  students  care  to  put  them- 
selves in  such  a  position. 

In  about  one- fourth  of  the  reports  from  Normal 
Schools,  it  is  stated  that  attendance  at  some 
church  once  a  Sunday  (twice  in  a  few  cases)  is  re- 
quired. At  the  Bridge  water  State  Normal  School 
(Massachusetts)  the  students  (261)  are  required  to 
attend  some  church  of  their  own  selection.  This 
seems  an  unreasonable  demand  to  make  of  stu- 
dents in  a  State  school.  In  one  case  (in  Georgia) 
a  church  roll  is  called  on  Monday ;  and  the 
remark  is  added,  "The  students  respect  this 
record  wholesomely ' '  !  A  preaching  service  on 
Sunday  does  not  seem  to  be  held  in  any  of  these 
Normal  Schools.  But  Bible  classes  and  prayer- 
meetings  (attendance  voluntary)  are  held  in  the 
buildings  of  many  of  these  schools  on  Sunday. 
In  almost  all,  the  Young  Men's  Christian  Associa- 
tions and  similar  organizations  freely  use  the 


130  RELIGIOUS  FREEDOM  IN 

rooms  of  these  institutions.  Indeed,  in  the  cata- 
logues of  many  Normal  Schools  the  Y.  M.  C.  A. 
is  given  conspicuous  attention,  and  its  work  is 
commended  much  as  though  an  essential  part  of 
the  school. 

There  are  about  a  score  of  State  Normal 
Schools  in  which  chapel  attendance  is  voluntary, 
from  50  per  cent,  to  90  per  cent,  being  given  as 
the  average  proportion  of  students  present.  In 
half  these  cases,  chapel  is  held  only  once  in  a 
week.  The  voluntary  system  has  in  most  cases 
been  recently  substituted  for  the  compulsory, 
and  the  results  appear  to  be  satisfactory. 

The  situation  at  a  few  Normal  Schools  deserves 
special  attention :  The  Chicago  Normal  School 
(500  students)  has  no  chapel  exercise.  The 
State  Normal  School  at  Oshkosh,  Wis.  (600  stu- 
dents) makes  this  report :  "We  have  no  chapel 
exercises  proper  ;  but  we  take  about  twenty-five 
minutes  each  morning  for  '  opening  exercises,7 
which  consist  of  the  singing  of  one  or  two  hymns, 
the  reading  of  some  selection  from  a  wide  range  of 
literature,  but  non-sectarian,  and  remarks  upon 
some  matter  of  current  interest  by  the  president 
or  some  member  of  the  faculty."     Certainly,  a 


AMERICAN  EDUCATION  131 

commendable  change  from  what  in  many  cases 
has  been  a  formal  and  perfunctory  service  that 
can  only  by  courtesy  be  called  religious.  In  this 
connection  it  is  well  to  remember  that  the 
Supreme  Court  of  Wisconsin  in  1890  declared 
the  reading  of  the  Bible  in  the  Public  Schools  of 
the  State  as  a  part  of  a  religious  exercise  to  be 
contrary  to  the  provisions  of  the  State  constitu- 
tion,—  a  memorable  and  epoch-making  decision. 

At  the  Normal  School  of  Arizona,  Tempe, 
even  a  simpler  service  is  held, — songs,  announce- 
ments, talks  by  members  of  the  faculty,  but  no 
religious  exercise.  The  report  from  the  State 
Normal  University,  Normal,  111.,  states  that,  in 
addition  to  selections  from  the  Bible,  ' '  we  have 
had  readings  from  Epictetus,  Marcus  Aurelius, 
the  Koran,  Emerson,  Bishop  Spalding,  and 
others, " — an  unusual  catholicity  ! 

From  these  and  similar  facts  it  is  easy  to 
detect  the  operation  in  our  Normal  Schools  of 
three  tendencies  that  are  apparently  increasing 
in  vigor  :  (1)  In  the  last  few  years  quite  a  num- 
ber of  these  schools  have  abandoned  the  old- 
fashioned  compulsory  chapel  exercise.  (2)  In 
a  larger  number  the  voluntary  system  has  taken 


132  RELIGIOUS  FREEDOM  IN 

the  place  of  the  compulsory.  (3)  Where  com- 
pulsory chapel  remains,  the  service  has,  as  a 
rule,  been  largely  improved,  being  freed  from 
dogmatic  features  and  given  a  more  modern 
and  social  character.  These  changes  indicate 
a  commendable  movement  toward  theological 
neutrality,  although  religious  freedom  can  hardly 
be  said  to  have  been  reached.  Where  the  most 
progress  in  this  direction  has  been  made,  relig- 
ious earnestness  has  not  lessened,  but  increased. 

The  religious  situation  in  our  Agricultural 
Colleges  is  similar  to  that  in  the  Normal  Schools, 
and  probably  for  the  same  reasons  in  the  main. 
In  some  of  the  States  where  instruction  in  agri- 
culture is  a  part  of  the  educational  system  of  the 
commonwealth,  there  is  no  separate  school,  but 
the  work  is  a  department  in  the  State  Univer- 
sity, as  in  Wisconsin;  and  in  these  cases  the 
regulations  respecting  chapel  will  be  discussed 
in  connection  with  the  State  Universities. 

Nearly  all  the  Agricultural  Colleges  proper 
have  chapel  exercises  of  the  usual  character 
from  Monday  to  Friday  with  compulsory  at- 
tendance.    No  material  changes  in  the  manage- 


AMERICAN  EDUCATION  133 

ment  of  these  religious  exercises  have  been  made 
since  these  colleges  were  opened.  Only  in  Mas- 
sachusetts, according  to  the  reports  made,  is 
there  a  paid  chaplain  ;  but  the  chaplain  of  this 
school,  in  addition  to  his  religious  duties,  also 
acts  as  a  professor  and  gives  instruction  in  vari- 
ous secular  branches  during  the  week. 

In  nearly  all  of  these  colleges,  attendance  on 
"  divine  service ' '  is  required  on  Sunday,  either 
at  the  service  held  in  the  institution  or  at  some 
local  church,  the  preference  of  parents  being 
honored  in  this  respect.  As  a  rule,  the  Young 
Men's  Christian  Associations  occupy  rooms  in 
the  college  buildings ;  and  they  apparently  have 
the  hearty  support  of  the  faculty  in  general. 
In  a  few  cases  there  are  in  addition  Epworth 
Leagues  and  Societies  of  Christian  Endeavor 
with  equal  privileges. 

The  two  notable  exceptions  to  compulsory  at- 
tendance at  chapel  are  the  Michigan  State  Agri- 
cultural College  at  Lansing  and  the  Iowa  State 
College  of  Agriculture  at  Ames.  In  these  insti- 
tutions attendance  is  voluntary,  in  the  former 
from  50  to  70  per  cent,  of  the  students  being 
present,  and  in  the  latter  from  15  to  40  per  cent. 


134  RELIGIOUS  FREEDOM  IN 

being  present.  In  both  cases,  however,  there 
is  preaching  every  Sunday  morning  in  the  col- 
lege with  apparently  compulsory  attendance,  — 
in  the  former  by  some  minister  from  Lansing  who 
is  paid  five  dollars  a  Sunday  for  his  services. 
As  we  reflect  upon  these  facts  the  question  arises 
whether  the  absence  of  changes  in  religious 
policy  among  these  institutions  is  due  to  the 
conservative  character  of  the  agricultural  class 
chiefly  interested  in  them. 

There  is  another  group  of  State  institutions  — 
Eeform  and  Industrial  Schools  —  that  may  well 
be  briefly  considered  in  this  connection.  Com- 
pulsory attendance  on  religious  services  is  the 
general  rule  in  these  schools,  as  in  all  our  penal 
and  reformatory  institutions.  But  there  are 
marked  differences  in  the  frequency  and  charac- 
ter of  such  services.  The  report  from  the  State 
Industrial  School  for  Girls  at  Lancaster,  Mass., 
contains  a  notable  statement,  showing  an  un- 
usual condition  which  is  worthy  special  atten- 
tion:  "The  character  of  this  school  as  a  State 
institution  is  such  that  these  topics  [of  religion] 
cannot  be  satisfactorily  treated. " 


AMERICAN  EDUCATION  135 

But  the  schools  of  this  class,  with  few  excep- 
tions, have  services  on  Sunday,  with  sermon  or 
address  at  which  attendance  is  required,  the 
Minnesota  State  Beformatory  (for  boys)  at  St. 
Cloud  being  the  notable  exception  j  and  the 
system  recently  adopted  there  will  be  briefly 
described.  In  one  case  (State  Industrial  School, 
Kearney,  Neb.),  the  report  states  that  the  stu- 
dents are  required  to  attend  the  churches  in 
the  neighboring  city  on  Sunday, — Protestants 
every  week,  and  Catholics  once  a  month. 

In  addition,  Sunday-school  classes  and  prayer- 
meetings  are  held  on  Sunday  in  nearly  all  these 
schools,  at  which,  however,  as  a  rule,  the  attend- 
ance is  voluntary.  During  the  week  in  many 
institutions  (probably  over  one-half)  there  are 
daily  prayers  or  Bible-readings,  usually  in  the 
different  cottages.  In  some  cases  these  are  held 
both  morning  and  evening,  and  attendance  is  in 
general  compulsory.  There  are  paid  chaplains 
in  about  half  of  these  schools.  In  some  instances 
the  ministers  of  local  churches  serve  as  chaplain 
in  rotation.  Eeligious  organizations  like  the 
Y.  M.  C.  A.,  Christian  Endeavor,  and  Ep worth 
League,  are  infrequent.     Gospel  hymns  are  ap- 


136  RELIGIOUS  FREEDOM  IN 

parently  more  commonly  used  here  than  in  any 
other  educational  institutions. 

A  few  years  ago  a  new  system  was  adopted  at 
the  Minnesota  State  Eeformatory  at  St.  Cloud, 
which  has  about  200  students.  There  are  no 
chapel  exercises  on  week-days,  but  inmates,  on 
request,  may  receive  religious  instruction  as 
desired  from  the  ministers  of  the  local  churches 
in  St.  Cloud  ;  and  for  this  purpose  they  are 
grouped  into  various  classes.  Attendance  is 
voluntary,  and  the  instruction  is  given  without 
compensation.  Two  religious  services  are  held 
in  the  institution  on  Sunday,  at  which  attend- 
ance is  voluntary  :  a  Protestant  service,  at  which 
about  70  per  cent,  of  the  Protestants  are  present ; 
and  a  Catholic  service,  at  which  about  50  per 
cent,  of  the  Catholics  are  present. 

This  system  represents  in  many  ways  an  ideal 
solution  of  a  difficult  problem.  Two  defects 
may,  however,  be  found  in  it  by  critics :  (1) 
the  loss  of  comradeship  and  social  culture  that 
come  from  a  daily  meeting  together ;  and  (2) 
the  insistence  that  persons  as  young  as  these 
students  should  not  be  left  to  a  voluntary  system, 
for  they  are  not  capable  of  acting  wisely  for 
themselves  in  these  matters. 


AMERICAN  EDUCATION  137 

But,  evidently,  the  originator  of  this  plan  has 
clear  and  decided  convictions  j  for  he  forcibly 
writes,  The  attendance  on  these  Sunday  services 
is  "  absolutely  voluntary,  and  it  must  and  shall 
remain  so."  This  is  certainly  a  significant  ex- 
periment, which  will  be  watched  by  all  with 
interest,  and  by  many  in  the  hope  that  it  will 
show  good  results  and  that  its  general  principle 
will  be  adopted  widely  in  other  schools. 

The  situation  in  these  and  kindred  institutions 
forces  upon  us  the  important  question,  How  far 
is  it  right  for  the  State  to  go  in  attempting  to 
force  religious  instruction  and  religious  services 
upon  its  delinquent  children  and  criminal  citi- 
zens ?  Here  is  a  serious  problem  which  deserves 
more  attention  than  it  has  so  far  received. 

In  the  technical  schools,  whether  State  insti- 
tutions or  private  foundations,  there  is,  as  a  rule, 
no  attempt  at  chapel  exercise  on  week-days  or 
religious  service  on  Sunday.  This  is  true  of 
such  schools  as  the  Michigan  College  of  Mines, 
the  Massachusetts  Institute  of  Technology,  the 
Case  School  of  Applied  Sciences,  the  Stevens  In- 
stitute of  Technology,  and  others. 


138  RELIGIOUS  FREED 031 

Even  at  the  Armour  Institute  of  Technology, 
founded  by  a  philanthropic  churchman  and  pre- 
sided over  by  a  clergyman,  there  are  no  at- 
tempts whatever  to  provide  religious  instruction 
by  chapel  on  week-days  or  church  on  Sunday. 
It  has  no  regulations  whatever  respecting  relig- 
ious matters,  wisely  committing  these  important 
interests  to  home  and  church. 

And  if  it  be  said,  in  view  of  these  and  other 
similar  facts,  that  something  ought  to  be  done 
along  religious  lines  by  all  schools  for  children 
who  come  out  of  homes  destitute  of  spiritual 
nurture,  the  adequate  reply  to  this  plea  for  re- 
ligious instruction  in  every  school  is  the  mere 
statement  that  this  is  work  for  the  church  rather 
than  the  school,  and  it  is  better  for  all  interests 
to  hold  the  church  to  its  grave  responsibility  in 
this  particular  direction.  If  the  home  does  fail 
at  this  point,  it  is  the  church,  and  not  the  school, 
that  ought  to  supply  what  the  family  has  neg- 
lected to  give. 


THE  STATE  UNIVERSITIES 


THE   STATE   UNIVERSITIES 

The  influence  of  our  State  Universities  in  pro- 
moting religious  freedom  throughout  the  field 
of  higher  education  in  America  has  been,  for  the 
past  fifty  years,  especially  powerful.  Probably 
it  has  been  the  most  powerful  influence,  apart 
from  the  general  spirit  of  the  age,  at  work 
among  us  in  this  direction.  Here  the  problem 
was  stripped  of  all  traditional  associations  and 
ecclesiastical  embarrassments.  These  were  new 
institutions,  with  no  inherited  bonds,  created 
and  maintained  by  the  State  for  the  people  in 
general.  Those  who  administered  them  were 
compelled  to  rise  above  sect  and  denomination, 
and  work  in  an  inclusive  spirit.  Here  the 
" American  Idea"  has  found  its  clearest  and 
strongest  expression. 

In  the  early  days  of  the  oldest  of  these  Univer- 
sities, clerical  influences  often  played  a  conspic- 
uous part,  and  the  religion  problem  frequently 
reached  an  acute  stage  of  irritation.     The  steps 

141 


y 


142  RELIGIOUS  FREEDOM  IN 

of  progress  were  often  slow,  and  sometimes  quite 
uncertain  ;  but  experience  finally  brought  per- 
manent results  in  favor  of  approximate  or  abso- 
lute religious  neutrality.  The  victory  for  relig- 
ious liberty  has  been  substantially  won,  although 
in  some  cases  there  is  a  lingering  survival  of  an- 
cient customs.  The  secular  character  of  the 
American  State  finds  complete  expression  in 
nearly  all  of  our  great  State  Universities,  where 
education  proceeds  without  clerical  dictation  or 
sectarian  intent. 

The  University  of  Michigan  was  the  first  of 
the  State  institutions  to  reach  prominence.  It 
was  founded  in  1837,  its  first  class  was  graduated 
in  1845,  and  the  number  of  students  had  reached 
500  by  1855.  Its  influence  and  example  have 
been  large  and  commanding,  not  only  through- 
out the  West,  but  also  in  all  parts  of  our  coun- 
try. It  is  therefore  extremely  interesting  and 
instructive  to  trace  its  progress  toward  religious 
freedom.  In  its  early  years  the  few  dominant 
denominations  in  the  State  of  Michigan  felt  that 
they  had  a  right  to  proportional  representation 
in  the  faculty.  Every  one  demanded  "a  sphere 
of  influence7'  !    These  churches  insisted  that, 


AMERICAN .  ED  UCA  TION  143 

when  a  professor  was  appointed,  a  certain  man 
should  be  selected  because  he  represented  a  par- 
ticular church.  This  policy,  pernicious  in  itself 
and  contrary  to  the  spirit  of  American  civiliza- 
tion, found  many  advocates  among  the  promi- 
nent men  of  the  State  in  the  early  days.  If  it 
had  been  established  as  a  permanent  policy  at 
Ann  Arbor,  the  University  would  have  been 
crippled  or  destroyed,  and  the  interests  of  edu- 
cation and  religion  in  our  whole  nation  would 
have  been  greatly  injured. 

It  was  fortunate  that  the  University  had  for  its 
chancellor  (as  the  president  was  then  called)  at 
that  critical  time  a  man  of  broad  spirit  and 
clear  vision,  deeply  imbued  with  true  American- 
ism, who,  while  a  loyal  churchman  with  deep 
religious  convictions,  saw  what  was  the  path  of 
wisdom  for  State,  church,  and  school.  Henry  P. 
Tappan  was  an  educator  with  the  prescient  mind 
of  a  statesman.  His  words  reveal  a  perfect  mas- 
tery of  the  great  problem,  and  they  are  well 
worthy  our  careful  consideration. 

In  a  notable  address  on  "The  University  :  Its 
Constitution  and  its  Eelations,  Political  and  Ee- 
ligious,"  delivered  at  Ann  Arbor  in  1858,  Dr. 


144:  RELIGIOUS  FREEDOM  IN 

Tappan  referred  to  the  then  popular  demand 
that  religious  considerations  be  taken  into  ac- 
count in  the  selection  of  members  of  the  faculty ; 
and  he  clearly  stated  his  general  position  in  these 
words:  "In  the  appointment  of  professors,  ref- 
erence should  be  had  only  to  scientific  and  liter- 
ary qualifications,  and  aptitude  to  teach.  It  is 
indispensable  to  a  teacher  in  any  branch  of  sci- 
ence or  literature  that  he  should  be  master  of  the 
branch  which  he  professes  to  teach.  However 
amiable  his  character,  however  pure  his  relig- 
ious or  political  creed  according  to  the  judgment 
of  any  sect  or  party,  if  he  has  not  the  requisite 
literary  or  scientific  qualifications,  he  is  of  no 
account.  It  is  on  this  common-sense  principle 
that  we  select  a  physician,  a  lawyer,  a  mechanic, 
a  laborer  of  any  description ;  and  it  would  be 
the  height  of  infatuation  to  reject  it  in  the  ap- 
pointment of  professors.  Nor  would  the  institu- 
tion in  question  avoid  the  error  by  adopting  the 
principle  of  selecting  the  best  man  of  one's  own 
sect  or  party;  for  it  might  often  happen  that 
the  best  man  of  the  sect  or  party  would  not  be 
the  best  man  for  the  vacant  chair,  and  some 
man  of  extraordinary  ability,  and  whose  acces- 


AMERICAN  EDUCATION  145 

sion  would  bring  incalculable  strength  and  repu- 
tation to  the  institution,  would  be  set  aside. 
There  is  no  safe  principle  but  that  of  looking 
directly  at  the  qualifications  of  the  individual, 
relatively  to  the  chair  to  be  filled." 

Here  we  have  the  fundamental  principle  of 
Civil  Service  Eeform  applied  to  the  appoint- 
ment of  University  professors  :  a  person  shall  be 
appointed  to  a  position  solely  on  account  of  his 
ability  to  fill  it  efficiently, —  considerations  of 
sect  or  party  shall  have  no  weight  whatever. 
We  have  in  recent  years  become  familiar  with 
this  doctrine,  but  it  was  not  so  well  known  or 
generally  respected  in  our  country  a  half- century 
ago  ;  and  its  advocacy  and  application  as  a  Uni- 
versity policy  by  Dr.  Tappan  needs  to  be  re- 
membered with  gratitude  as  a  memorable  inci- 
dent in  the  history  of  American  education. 

The  following  paragraph  is  also  intensely 
interesting :  — 

"  Every  sect  has  the  right  of  establishing  its 
own  institutions ;  but  no  such  institution  can 
arise  to  eminence,  or  gain  large  success,  by  mak- 
ing the  promotion  of  sectarian  interest  its  great 
aim.     Let  any  one  carefully  examine  the  institu- 


146  RELIGIOUS  FREEDOM  IN 

tions  of  our  country,  and  he  will  find  the  above 
assertion  fully  sustained.  Hence  we  find  the 
sectarian  institutions,  so  called,  tending  more 
and  more  to  a  liberal  policy.  The  genius  of  our 
country  demands  that,  if  sectarian  in  name,  they 
should  not  be  so  in  their  educational  organi- 
zation and  procedures."  Significant  and  pro- 
phetic words ! 

Chancellor  Tappan  then  proceeds  to  apply 
this  principle  to  the  case  in  hand, — the  Univer- 
sity of  Michigan:  "If  the  principle  we  have 
above  laid  down,  that  the  appointment  of  pro- 
fessors to  chairs  of  literature  and  science,  to  all 
chairs,  at  least,  outside  the  theological,  is  to  be 
independent  alike  of  political  and  religious 
tests,  and  solely  in  reference  to  literary  and 
scientific  qualifications,  and  aptitude  to  teach, 
and  that,  too,  in  institutions  professedly  at- 
tached to  particular  religious  denominations,  .  .  . 
then  I  say,  when  we  come  to  this  institution,  the 
principle  of  regulating  appointments  by  qualifi- 
cations alone,  cannot  fail  us.  Here,  if  anywhere, 
political  and  religious  tests  must  be  utterly  abol- 
ished, nor  even  a  shadow  of  them  appear." 

But  it  is  evident  that  men  with  other  ideals 


AMERICAN  EDUCATION  147 

existed  at  that  time  in  the  State  of  Michigan. 
For  Dr.  Tappan  goes  on  to  state  :  "  A  plan  has 
somehow  sprung  up,  and  in  one  or  two  instances 
been  acted  upon,  which,  on  the  one  hand,  by- 
proclaiming  the  equal  rights  of  all  religious  de- 
nominations in  University  appointments,  seems 
to  avoid  exclusiveness ;  while,  on  the  other  hand, 
in  the  very  attempt  to  adjust  these  rights,  it 
involves  us  in  all  the  evils  of  denominational 
tests.  For  on  this  plan,  whenever  a  chair  is  to- 
be  filled,  instead  of  confining  ourselves  to  the 
consideration  of  the  literary  and  scientific  quali- 
fications of  the  candidates,  and  their  aptitude  to 
teach,  we  must  raise  two  additional  inquiries : 
First,  to  which  of  the  denominations  does  the 
appointment  about  to  be  made,  of  right,  be- 
long f  And,  secondly,  which  of  the  candidates 
possesses  the  requisite  denominational  qualifica- 
tions !" 

These  words  describe  what  was  the  storm  cen- 
tre of  angry  debate  in  the  young  commonwealth 
of  Michigan.  The  policy  having  been  de- 
scribed, its  pernicious  character  is  then  set  forth  : 
"Now  it  is  plain  that  in  both  these  questions 
we  depart  from  the  true  principle  before  vindi- 


148  RELIGIOUS  FREEDOM  IN 

cated,  and  that,  this  plan  once  adopted,  every 
appointment  afterwards  made  to  the  University 
would  be  governed  by  some  denominational  test. 
But  this  would  not  be  the  only  evil  we  should 
have  to  encounter.  There  would  be  the  evil  of 
denominational  jealousy  and  competition.  How 
would  it  be  possible  to  adjust  these  denomina- 
tional rights?  Which  denomination  shall  have 
the  largest  number  of  professors  ?  Shall  it  be  de- 
termined by  the  numbers,  the  wealth,  the  politi- 
cal influence,  or  the  educated  intelligence  of  the 
sect  ?  Or  shall  the  same  number  be  distributed 
alike  to  all  the  sects  ?  But  some  professorships 
may  be  regarded  as  more  influential  than 
others  j  and  the  full  professorship  would  gener- 
ally be  regarded  as  taking  precedence  of  the  as- 
sistant. Then  how  many  assistant  professorships 
shall  be  considered  equivalent  to  one  full  profes- 
sorship? Shall  it  be  two  or  one  and  a  half? 
How  shall  we  determine  the  relative  importance 
of  the  full  professorships?  Which  sect  shall 
have  the  right  to  nominate  the  president?" 
Here  the  absurdity  of  the  policy  urged  by  secta- 
rian zealots  is  laid  bare,  not  only  by  forcible  ar- 
gument, but  by  keen  ridicule. 


AMERICAN  EDUCATION  149 

In  the  same  noble  and  convincing  strain,  Dr. 
Tappan  proceeds  :  "  When  these  representatives 
of  the  different  sects  are  introduced  into  the 
University,  acknowledged  and  known  in  this 
capacity,  then  the  question  arises:  How  are  they 
to  act  out  their  representative  capacity,  and  to 
maintain  the  interests  of  the  bodies  which  they 
represent !  Shall  they  all  remit  the  peculiarities 
of  their  respective  sects,  and  endeavor  to  stand 
upon  certain  principles  in  which  they  all  agree  ! 
Then  there  will,  in  reality,  be  no  representation 
of  sects ;  and  the  ends  of  the  whole  arrangement 
become  null  and  void.  Shall  each  one  assert  his 
sectarian  peculiarities !  Then  will  the  Univer- 
sity be  split  into  conflicting  parties,  and  the 
professors  be  found  heading  their  respective 
clans,  and,  instead  of  an  institution  providing  the 
inhabitants  of  the  State  with  the  means  of  acquir- 
ing a  thorough  knowledge  of  the  various  branches 
of  literature,  science,  and  the  arts,  we  shall  have  a 
grand  gymnasium  where  Catholic  and  Protestant, 
the  orthodox  and  the  heterodox,  engaged  in  end- 
less logomachies,  shall  renew  Milton's  chaos: 

1 A  universal  hubbub  wild 
Of  stunning  sounds  and  voices  all  confused '  1 


150  RELIGIOUS  FREEDOM  IN 

Better,  far  better  than  to  run  the  hazard  of 
such  confusion  and  ruin,  would  it  be  to  consign 
the  University  to  any  one  denomination,  Catho- 
lic or  Protestant,  animated  by  the  noble  spirit 
of  Padua,  Pisa,  or  Leiden.  One  alone  possess- 
ing it  might  be  generous  and  enlightened  :  a 
number  attempting  to  share  its  functions  and 
divide  its  spoils  would  only  rend  it  in  pieces. " 

Then  follows  a  paragraph  which  deserves  a 
very  high  place  in  the  history  of  American  edu- 
cation: "  But  egregiously  do  those  mistake  the 
character  and  ends  of  this  institution  who  imag- 
ine that,  because  it  belongs  to  no  sect  or  party 
in  particular,  it  therefore  belongs  to  all  sects  and 
parties  conjointly,  and  of  equal  right.  It  not 
only  does  not  belong  to  any  sect  or  party  in  par- 
ticular :  it  belongs  to  no  sect  or  party  at  all.  It 
belongs  to  the  people  of  this  State  simply  as  the 
people  of  the  State.  The  deed  of  trust  by  which 
it  was  founded,  the  ordinance  by  which  its  objects 
are  denned,  makes  no  allusion  to  Catholic  or  Prot- 
estant, to  Presbyterian,  Methodist,  Episcopalian, 
Baptist,  Congregationalist,  Unitarian,  Univer- 
salist,  or  any  other  religious  denomination.  It 
speaks  not  of  political  parties  ;  it  refers  to  no  par- 


AMERICAN  EDUCATION  151 

ticular  localities.  It  speaks  only  of  the  State  of 
Michigan,  or  of  the  people  of  the  State.  It  is  a 
purely  literary  and  scientific  institution  :  it  is  in 
no  sense  ecclesiastical.  It  is  designed  for  a  simple 
purpose, — advancing  knowledge  and  promoting 
education.  Occupying  a  higher  grade,  it  is  as 
purely  a  popular  and  educational  institution  as 
the  common  school  itself.  It  is  as  absurd  to 
speak  of  the  University  as  belonging  to  religious 
sects  conjointly  as  it  would  be  to  speak  of  the 
asylum,  the  State  prison,  the  legislature,  or  any 
other  public  body,  institution,  or  works,  as  thus 
belonging.  The  State  is  not  composed  of  sects, 
but  of  the  people.  And  the  institutions  of  the 
State  do  not  belong  to  the  sects  into  which  the 
people  may  chance  to  be  divided  by  their  relig- 
ious opinions  and  practices,  but  to  the  people 
considered  as  the  body  politic,  irrespective  of  all 
such  divisions." 

This  discussion  has  been  quoted  at  length 
because  of  its  intrinsic  worth  and  its  relative 
importance.  Chancellor  Tappan  fully  appreci- 
ated the  secular  character  of  our  American 
Nation.  He  saw  with  perfect  clearness  that  a 
State  school  must  follow  the  character  of  the 


152  RELIGIOUS  FREEDOM  IN 

State  which  creates  and  maintains  it.  As,  there- 
fore, the  State  in  its  purely  civic  functions  stands 
wholly  apart  from  religious  beliefs  and  rites, 
so  also  must  its  schools  be  neutral  toward  all 
churches.  Having  no  religion  of  its  own  as  a 
State  (though  its  people  may  have  a  hundred 
different  forms  of  religion),  it  cannot  put  any 
religion,  however  simple,  meagre,  or  universal, 
into  its  schools,  whether  common  school  or  col- 
lege. The  State  University  must  not  attempt  to 
teach  any  theological  dogmas  or  favor  any  par- 
ticular denomination. 

It  was  equally  clear  to  Dr.  Tappan  that  the 
churches  as  such  must  have  no  voice  whatever 
in  the  management  of  its  affairs  or  the  selection 
of  its  faculty.  And  he  insisted  upon  these 
principles,  not  only  as  a  citizen  loyal  to  the 
American  theory  of  government,  but  also  as  an 
enlightened  friend  of  all  the  churches  and  of 
religion  in  general.  Coming  as  they  did,  in  the 
formative  period  of  our  Western  civilization, 
just  as  State  Universities  began  to  be  organized, 
coming  also  from  a  distinguished  educator,  who 
was  then  occupying  a  post  of  great  distinction  as 
head  of  the  largest  State  University  in  the  land, 


AMERICAN  EDUCATION  153 

these  words  carried  great  weight  and  exerted  a 
wide  and  decisive  influence.  These  principles, 
set  forth  with  so  much  power  by  Dr.  Tappan, 
have  been  incorporated  into  the  life  and  organi- 
zation of  all  the  State  Universities  that  have 
been  established  in  the  last  fifty  years. 

It  remains  to  trace  the  changes  made  in  chapel 
exercisesjin  these  institutions  and  to  describe  the 
conditions  in  this  respect  which  exist  at  present. 
There  are  about  forty  State  (and  Territorial) 
Universities  in  our  Nation.  A  few  of  these,  like 
that  of  Maine,  are  really  no  more  than  agri- 
cultural colleges  ;  and  in  these  a  daily  chapel  is 
held  at  which  atttendance  is  expected.  In  a 
few  cases,  like  the  University  of  Vermont,  the 
agricultural  college  of  the  State  was  grafted 
upon  a  previously  existing  denominational  insti- 
tution ;  and,  quite  naturally,  the  regulation  re- 
specting chapel  which  existed  in  the  older 
college  remains,  and  the  compulsory  policy  is 
still  in  force.  A  half  dozen  State  Universities  in 
the  South,  like  those  in  North  Carolina  and 
South  Carolina,  in  Georgia,  and  in  Alabama, 
were  established  near  the  beginning  of  the  nine- 
teenth century,  at  a  time  when  all  such  institu- 


154  RELIGIOUS  FREEDOM  IN 

tions  were  under  strict  religious  influences  j  and 
in  these  the  compulsory  chapel  is  still  main- 
tained. 

The  chapel  services  in  all  these  institutions 
are  at  present  very  much  the  same  in  character 
as  in  former  years,  though  some  changes  have 
been  made.  More  music  has  recently  been 
added :  none  whatever  is  allowed  in  the  State 
college  of  Kentucky !  Some  little  effort  has 
been  put  forth  to  make  these  exercises  less  theo- 
logical and  more  practical  than  they  formerly 
were.  In  the  University  of  South  Carolina 
and  in  the  University  of  Alabama,  students  are 
required  to  attend  church  once  a  Sunday ! 
These  facts  remind  us  that  there  are  still  a  few 
sections  of  our  land  where  the  secular  character 
of  our  government  is  not  fully  understood ;  and, 
unfortunately,  the  principle  of  religious  neutral- 
ity in  education  has  not  everywhere  been  ac- 
cepted. But  these  few  and  scattered  survivals 
of  ancient  customs  only  emphasize  the  progress 
which  the  rest  of  the  country  has  happily 
made. 

In  one-half  of  our  State  Universities  where  a 
chapel  service  is  held,  the  attendance  is  volun- 


AMERICAN  EDUCATION  155 

tary.  In  some  cases  the  service  departs  very 
far  from  the  conventional  form,  being  more  a 
secular  assembly  of  students  and  faculty  than  a 
religious  exercise.  Chapel  is  held  every  school 
day,  with  voluntary  attendance,  in  about  a 
dozen  of  these  institutions,  usually  conducted  by 
members  of  the  faculty,  in  a  few  instances  by 
pastors  of  local  churches,  and  in  one  case  by  the 
secretary  of  the  Y.  M.  C.  A., — the  University 
of  Virginia  !  In  five  —  the  Universities  of  Ore- 
gon, Ohio  State,  Idaho,  Montana,  and  Wyoming 
— there  is  a  weekly  gathering  of  all  members  of 
the  institution.  This  meeting  as  a  rule  is  more 
a  social  and  educational  convocation  than  a  de- 
votional service,  though  prayer  and  Scripture 
reading  are  common  features. 

In  the  University  of  Colorado,  chapel  is  held 
Tuesday,  Wednesday,  and  Thursday.  In  the 
University  of  Indiana  one  hour  is  set  apart  — 10 
a.m.  to  11  a.m. —  on  Tuesday  and  Thursday  each 
week  for  a  religious  service,  with  an  address  by 
one  of  the  local  ministers  or  some  clergyman 
from  a  distance.  The  University  of  Michigan 
holds  a  vesper  service  at  four  o'clock  on  Tues- 
day and  Thursday  —  during  a  part  of  the  year. 


156  RELIGIOUS  FREEDOM  IN 

This  service  is  chiefly  musical,  with  short  prayer 
and  Scripture  reading,  usually  by  the  president. 
This  is  in  no  sense  a  chapel  service  after  the  old 
type.  In  these  institutions  the  attendance  of 
students  varies  from  20  per  cent,  to  90  per  cent. 
In  all  but  those  recently  organized,  the  compul- 
sory chapel  formerly  existed. 

There  are  six  State  Universities  —  Nevada, 
California,  Wisconsin,  Illinois,  Iowa  (voluntary 
chapel  may  later  be  resumed,  when  suitable  room 
is  provided),  Arizona  (still  a  Territory)  —  where 
no  chapel  exercise  is  held.  In  some  of  these, 
notably  in  Arizona  and  Wisconsin,  there  is  a 
general  meeting  of  students.  In  Arizona  an  as- 
sembly is  held  Friday  morning,  but  without  de- 
votional exercises, — "  prohibited  by  organic  act 
from  introducing  any  exercises  of  a  religious 
nature. "  Wisconsin  now  has  a  weekly  assem- 
bly, or  convocation,  at  which  members  of  the 
Freshman  and  Sophomore  Classes  are  required 
to  attend,  and  which  is  open  to  the  members  of 
the  other  classes.  At  these  meetings  the  presi- 
dent addresses  the  students  on  some  matter  of 
interest,  or  distinguished  men  from  outside  the 
institution  speak  to  the  students  upon  various 


AMERICAN  EDUCATION  157 

topics,  often  questions  of  contemporary  history 
or  politics.  Members  of  the  faculty,  other  than 
the  president,  frequently  speak  on  these  occa- 
sions.    Music  is  made  a  prominent  feature. 

It  is  interesting  to  note  the  comparisons  in 
size  and  rate  of  growth  between  the  institutions 
which  have  kept  closest  to  the  traditional  policy 
and  those  that  have  practically  reached  religious 
neutrality.  In  the  ten  State  institutions  where 
the  compulsory  policy  is  still  maintained,  there 
are  at  present  less  than  4,000  students, —  only 
about  as  many  as  in  some  one  of  the  great 
Universities  that  have  come  completely  into 
harmony  with  the  modern  spirit.  The  rate  of 
growth  in  the  last  ten  years  has  been  much  more 
rapid  in  the  State  institutions  with  freer  and 
more  modern  spirit. 

The  following  is  also  an  impressive  statement : 
One-half  of  the  college  students  of  our  country 
are  in  the  twenty-five  institutions  that  have  vol- 
untary chapel  or  no  similar  exercise,— fifteen 
State  Universities  and  the  ten  institutions  like 
Washington,  Cornell,  Stanford,  Harvard,  Co- 
lumbia, Boston,  Smith,  Bryn  Mawr,  Syracuse, 
and  Johns  Hopkins.     The  other  half  are  scat- 


x 


158  RELIGIOUS  FREEDOM  IN 

tered  in  some  400  institutions  !  The  number  of 
students  in  these  twenty-five  Universities  has  in- 
creased during  the  past  ten  years  125  per  cent. 
The  following  ten  denominational  institutions  of 
the  best  type  —  Bochester,  Wake  Forest,  Cornell 
College,  Colby,  Hamilton,  Lawrence,  Princeton, 
Drake,  Wittenberg,  De  Pauw  —  have  increased 
in  number  of  students  in  the  same  period  only 
about  40  per  cent., — a  growth  only  about  one- 
third  as  fast  as  in  the  former  class !  It  would 
be  exceedingly  absurd  to  contend  that  the  pol- 
icy of  voluntary  chapel  has  been  a  prominent, 
or  even  a  considerable,  factor  in  this  more  rapid 
growth.  But  this  comparison  does  show  very 
plainly  what  type  of  institution  appeals  most 
powerfully  at  present  to  the  American  people. 

In  these  State  institutions  that  have  existed 
for  twenty  years  or  more,  several  tendencies  are 
to  be  noticed.  (1)  Daily  chapel  exercises  with 
compulsory  attendance  were  formerly  general,  if 
not  almost  universal.  The  voluntary  system  has  < 
rapidly  gained  ground  in  recent  years.  Of  the  Is 
35,000  students  in  all  these  State  Universities, 
less  than  4,000,  as  has  been  stated,  are  now  under 
compulsory  chapel  rules  ;  over  20,000  are  in  in- 


AMERICAN  EDUCATION  159 

stitutions  with  the  voluntary  system ;  and  over 
9,000  in  those  with  no  chapel  service. 

(2)  In  many  cases  the  transitions  have  been 
similar  to  those  in  Wisconsin  and  Michigan. 
Many  years  ago  in  both  there  was  compulsory 
chapel j  then  chapel  was  made  voluntary  with 
expectation  of  attendance  ;  and,  finally  purely 
voluntary  and  occasional,  as  in  Michigan,  or 
wholly  abolished,  as  in  Wisconsin. 

(3)  Where  attendance  on  chapel  is  now  re- 
quired, the  services  have  been  made  more 
practical,  more  varied,  and  more  educational ; 
less  dogmatic  and  less  perfunctory. 

(4)  The  testimonies  of  competent  observers 
indicate  that  these  changes,  instead  of  injuring 
religion  and  lowering  the  moral  tone  of  the 
students,  have  been  coincident  with  a  deepening 
of  the  religious  life  of  the  student  body.  One 
University  president,  located  in  the  South, 
writes  significantly,  u  Compulsory  chapel  at- 
tendance was  here  productive  of  much  sin"  ! 
Probably  many  others  could  give  decisive  evi- 
dence in  the  same  line. 


SOME   INTERESTING  EXPERIMENTS 


SOME  INTERESTING   EXPERIMENTS 

In  a  great  majority  of  our  American  institutions 
of  higher  education  the  religious  problem  is  be- 
ing treated  with  greater  wisdom  and  more  cath- 
olicity than  ever  before.  Almost  everywhere 
the  atmosphere  has  become  less  dogmatic  and 
more  tolerant.  The  policy  of  compulsion  is 
giving  way  to  the  voluntary  method.  Chapel 
exercises  are  becoming  less  formal  and  more 
spiritual;  less  theological  and  more  ethical. 
The  great  institutions  are  calling  to  their  aid 
the  eminent  men  of  nearly  all  denominations. 

Extreme  positions  on  both  sides  are  being 
abandoned :  the  conservatives  have  a  keener 
appreciation  of  the  necessity  of  theological  neu- 
trality in  State  schools,  and  the  radicals  see  more 
clearly  than  ever  before  the  importance  of  relig- 
ion and  admit  that  the  opportunity  for  relig- 
ious culture,  of  broad  and  inclusive  type,  ought 
to  be  provided  in  college  and  University.  The 
conviction  deepens  that  compulsion  is  not  wise. 

163 


y 


164  RELIGIOUS  FREEDOM  IN 

On  the  other  hand,  many  feel  that  it  is  not  best 
to  abandon  the  field  completely.  Public  opin- 
ion centres  more  and  more  on  methods  that  in- 
sure theological  freedom,  bnt  provide  religious 
opportunity. 

Cornell  University  has  been  a  pioneer  in  this 
realm.  By  the  terms  of  the  charter  of  the  Uni- 
versity, persons  of  any  religions  denomination  or 
of  no  religions  denomination  are  equally  eligible 
to  all  offices  and  appointments  j  but  it  is  expressly 
ordered  that  "at  no  time  shall  a  majority  of  the 
Board  of  Trustees  be  of  any  one  religious  sect  or 
of  no  religious  sect." 

From  1868  to  1871  daily  chapel  exercises  were 
held,  but  very  broad  in  spirit  j  and  all  students 
were  expected  to  attend.  In  1873,  Sage  Chapel 
(recently  enlarged  and  beautified)  was  given  to 
the  University,  and  the  Sage  Preachership  En- 
dowment was  established.  For  thirty  years  re- 
ligious services  have  been  held  in  the  Chapel  on 
Sunday,  conducted  by  eminent  clergymen,  se- 
lected, in  the  spirit  of  the  charter,  from  the 
various  religious  denominations.  These  minis- 
ters serve  but  one  Sunday  in  the  year,  and  they 
have  no  pastoral  or  other  relations  with  the  stu- 


AMERICAN  EDUCATION  165 

dents :  their  duty  is  limited  to  the  pulpit  work 
of  this  particular  Sunday.  Of  course,  some  of 
these  clergymen  return  to  give  sermons  for  a 
number  of  years  in  succession. 

The  Sage  Chapel  preaching  service  on  Sunday 
is  very  popular,  and  it  is  generally  attended  by 
a  large  number  of  professors  and  students.  The 
Chapel  is  also  open  every  week-day  from  5  p.m. 
to  5.45  p.m.,  when  religious  music  is  rendered, 
with  special  programmes  on  Thursdays.  At- 
tendance on  all  these  services  is  absolutely  vol- 
untary. All  observers  testify  that  the  moral 
and  religious  tone  of  the  student  body  is  high, 
and  there  has  been  progress  rather  than  de- 
cline under  this  system  for  the  period  of  thirty 
years  during  which  it  has  existed. 

The  University  of  North  Carolina  has  a  system 
of  University  preachers  somewhat  similar  to 
that  at  Cornell.  It  was  developed  from  a  very 
old  custom  of  having  ministers  invited  by  the 
Y.  M.  C.  A.  once  a  month  to  deliver  sermons 
to  the  students.  Gradually,  the  choice  of  these 
preachers  and  the  payment  of  their  expenses 
fell  into  the  hands  of  the  University  proper, 
making  them  officers  of  the  institution  during 


166  RELIGIOUS  FREEDOM  IN 

their  term  of  service.  This  custom  is  now  more 
than  twenty  years  old.  These  clergymen  are 
selected  from  a  few  denominations,  and  they 
have  no  pastoral  relations  with  the  students. 

The  University  of  Virginia  has  a  system  with 
some  unique  features.  The  daily  voluntary 
chapel  is  held  at  6.15  p.m.  It  is  conducted  by 
the  Secretary  of  the  Y.  M.  C.  A."  "The  attend- 
ance is  small,  but  those  present  are  very  ear- 
nest. There  are  on  Sunday  two  preaching  ser- 
vices, the  character  and  support  of  which  are 
thus  described  by  &  member  of  the  faculty : 
"We  have  no  religion  here,  as  an  institution,* 
but  the  vast  majority  of  our  faculty  and  the 
greater  proportion  of  our  students  are  Christian 
men.  Each  member  of  the  faculty  subscribes 
every  year  one  per  cent,  of  his  salary  volunta- 
rily to  religious  services,  and  the  students  give 
what  they  will  when  the  paper  is  carried  around 
to  them  by  the  secretary  of  the  Y.  M.  C.  A. 
We  have  invited  preachers  every  Sunday,  in- 
cluding such  men  as  Lyman  Abbott,  Dr.  Faunce 
of  Brown  University,  Dr.  Strong  of  New  York, 
and  others  of  prominence  from  the  North,  and 
many  leading  divines  from  the  South  and  West. 


AMERICAN  EDUCATION  167 

Here  we  stop  after  asking  the  ministers  of  the 
city  to  look  after  the  members  of  their  respec- 
tive denominations  among  our  students.  When 
the  students  apply  for  matriculation,  they  put 
down  their  religious  affiliation  on  the  blank 
forms  which  they  fill  out  at  that  time ;  and  from 
these  a  full  list  is  made  out  and  sent  to  the  local 
pastors,  including  Jews  and  Eoman  Catholics. 
These  latter  we  do  not  have  in  our  chapel,  as 
the  standard  Protestant  organizations  only  are 
invited  to  officiate. " 

Attendance  on  the  Sunday  preaching  service 
at  the  University  of  Virginia  is  entirely  volun- 
tary. It  is  interesting  to  note  that  the  first 
college  Y.  M.  0.  A.  was  organized  in  this  insti- 
tution founded  by  Thomas  Jefferson  !  It  is  con- 
fidently reported  that  for  many  years  there  has 
been  a  steady  progress  toward  a  deeper  religious 
life.  But  the  University  has  no  regulations  re- 
specting religious  matters,  except  that  golf  can- 
not be  played  on  the  grounds  of  the  institution 
during  the  Sabbath  !  A  century  of  experience 
proves  that  the  utmost  religious  liberty  de- 
manded by  the  founder,  Thomas  Jefferson,  has 
after  all  been  helpful  to  the  interests  of  piety  ! 


168  RELIGIOUS  FREEDOM  IN 

The  Leland  Stanford  Junior  University  is 
neither  a  State  nor  a  denominational  institution. 
It  does  not  accept  even  the  term  "  non-secta- 
rian. '  >  It  was  founded  in  the  broadest  spirit,  and 
yet  a  religious  impulse  finds  expression  in  its  or- 
ganic law.  The  charter  of  the  University  pro- 
hibits sectarian  instruction,  but  provides  that 
there  shall  be  taught  in  the  University  "the 
immortality  of  the  soul,  the  existence  of  an  all- 
wise  and  benevolent  Creator,  and  that  obedience 
to  his  laws  is  the  highest  duty  of  man." 

Two  kinds  of  voluntary  religious  services  are 
maintained  by  the  University,— two  church 
services  on  Sunday  and  a  Thursday  afternoon 
vesper  service.  During  the  first  four  years  after 
the  University  was  opened  there  was  a  daily 
voluntary  chapel  at  8.15  a.m.  The  University 
Chapel  Union,  organized  by  the  University  com- 
munity in  1896,  co-operates  with  the  Faculty 
Committee  on  Chapel  Services  in  the  endeavor  to 
make  the  religious  services  of  the  University  an 
expression  of  the  life  of  the  community,  and 
invested,  as  far  as  possible,  with  the  atmosphere 
of  a  church  home. 

The  preachers  to  the  University  for  the  past 


AMERICAN  EDUCATION  169 

few  years  represent  the  most  inclusive  list  to  be 
found  anywhere  among  our  American  Universi- 
ties, not  only  Christians,  but  Jews ;  not  only 
Protestants,  but  Catholics  j  not  only  clergymen, 
but  also  distinguished  laymen. 

The  Memorial  Church,  with  a  total  seating 
capacity  of  1, 700,  has  recently  been  dedicated  ; 
and  Eev.  Dr.  E.  Heber  Newton  has  just  entered 
upon  his  duties  as  preacher  to  the  University, 
and  the  progress  of  his  work  will  be  watched 
with  great  interest  in  the  generous  hope  that  his 
ministrations  will  be  spiritually  helpful,  and 
also  that  they  will  suggest  better  methods  of 
religious  culture  for  our  great  educational  insti- 
tutions. A  paid  chaplain  has  also  recently  been 
installed,  who  is  practically  a  college  pastor. 
This  arrangement  brings  two  clergymen  into 
close  association  with  the  students  of  the  Uni- 
versity, but  the  voluntary  principle  is  main- 
tained. Both  these  men  have  been  members  of 
the  Protestant  Episcopal  priesthood,  but  they 
are  at  present  released  from  ecclesiastical  super- 
vision. 

What  may  well  be  called  the  "  Harvard 
Plan"  seems  to  many  the  most  successful  method 


170  RELIGIOUS  FREEDOM  IN 

yet  devised  to  afford  religious  opportunity,  and 
at  the  same  time  to  maintain  theological  neu- 
trality. The  originator  of  this  plan,  Professor 
Francis  G.  Peabody,  very  justly  describes  in 
these  words  the  philosophy  which  underlies  the 
methods  which  have  produced  such  good  results 
at  our  oldest  University.     He  writes  :  — 

"Two  methods  have  hitherto  presented  them-  .  / 

V 
selves  as  open  to  the  Universities  in  dealing  with 

religion.  The  one  is  the  method  of  compulsionj 
the  other  is  the  method  of  jbbolition.  Compul- 
sion toward  religion  in  the  life  of  youth  has  bred 
repulsion  from  religion  in  the  life  of  many  a 
man.  He  has  come  to  regard  religion  as  an 
obligation  rather  than  an  opportunity ;  as  a 
system  of  police,  which  he  may  try  to  evade, 
rather  than  a  spirit  of  life  which  he  should  be 
encouraged  to  seek. 

' '  Eeligion  is  not  a  thing  which  can  be  barred 
out  of  the  world  of  study.  .  .  .  There  is  hardly  a 
single  department  of  study  to  which  one  can 
make  the  least  concession  without  being  brought 
into  immediate  relation  with  the  interest  of  the 
spiritual  life,  and  out  of  which  does  not  neces- 
sarily come  either  confirmation  of  conviction  or 


AMERICAN  EDUCATION  171 

increase  of  uncertainty.  It  is  in  vain  that  a 
University  or  an  individual  attempts  to  be 
neutral  in  such  a  matter.  Eeligion  is  too  large 
and  too  penetrating  a  thing  to  be  shut  out. 
Agnosticism  toward  it  is  not  a  neutral  position 
either  in  a  University  or  in  an  individual.  It  is 
a  position  of  positive  and  direct  influence.  '  He 
that  is  not  with  me  is  against  me,  and  he  that 
scattereth  not  with  me  scattereth  abroad.'  " 

Dr.  Peabody  pleads  with  illuminating  wisdom 
for  both  liberty  and  opportunity  in  religion,  as 
it  stands  related  to  University  administration : 
"  Thus  the  voluntary  system  in  religion  is  a  two- 
fold act  of  faith  :  it  is  a  faith  in  the  power  of 
religion,  and  it  is  a  faith  in  the  impulses  of 
young  men.  The  other  system  of  religion  in  the 
colleges  seems  to  proceed  not  from  faith,  but  from 
doubt.  The  system  of  abolition  doubts  the 
power  of  religion,  and  assumes  that  a  University 
can  get  on  without  it.  The  system  of  compul- 
sion doubts  the  impulses  of  young  men,  and  as- 
sumes that  they  cannot  be  trusted  in  their  deeper 
leadings.  The  system  of  privilege  assumes  two 
things  :  that  religion  rationally  presented  can 
hold  its  place  among  the  competing  interests  of 


172  RELIGIOUS  FREEDOM  IN 

the  time,  and  that  the  hearts  of  young  men 
are  naturally  receptive  and  responsive  to  its 
call." 

It  was  in  1886  that  Dr.  Peabody,  then  Plum- 
mer  Professor  of  Christian  Ethics  in  Harvard, 
put  these  general  ideas  into  practice  in  a  system 
which  has  four  parts  (1)  A  daily  chapel,  a 
brief  but  impressive  service,  held  at  8.45  a.m.,  at 
which  attendance  is  absolutely  voluntary.  This 
service  is  led  by  one  of  the  live  college  preachers. 
Twenty  minutes  before  nine  the  old  college 
bell-ringer  sends  out  a  warning  chime,  and  then 
keeps  up  a  gentle  tolling  of  the  bell,  while  the 
students  gather  in  Appleton  Chapel  for  morning 
prayers.  As  the  first  dozen  enter  the  chapel 
and  select  seats,  the  organist  begins  a  voluntary. 
By  two  and  threes,  others  enter,  to  meditate  in 
the  almost  empty  church,  where  the  morning 
light  shines  dimly  in  through  tinted  panes,  as 
though  striving  to  cheer  the  sombre  walls.  Dur- 
ing the  last  minute  the  students  throng  into  the 
Chapel,  until  there  is  a  congregation  of  several 
hundreds.  At  fifteen  minutes  of  nine  the  organ 
is  stilled,  and  the  preacher  enters  the  pulpit.  As 
he  rises  before  the  congregation,  they  also  rise 


AMERICAN  EDUCATION  173 

and  preacher  and  students  read  a  Psalm  together. 
Hardly  are  all  seated  again,  when  the  opening 
chords  of  the  anthem  peal  forth  from  the  organ, 
and  the  choir  sings. 

After  this  song  service  comes  the  reading  of 
the  Bible,  with  comments  by  the  preacher,  and  a 
prayer.  It  is  the  preacher' s  share  in  the  exercises 
that  is  most  unique  and  most  attractive.  Each  of 
the  college  preachers  leads  the  chapel  services  for 
about  six  weeks  during  the  college  year,  usually 
making  three  visits  to  Cambridge  of  a  fortnight 
each.  ..These  clergymen  belong  to  different  de- 
nominations, and  they  are  selected  on  account 
of  their  catholicity  of  spirit  and  eminence  as 
preachers.  It  is  well  to  dwell  on  the  great  op- 
portunity for  religious  instruction  which  the 
presence  of  these  men  affords.  No  system  of 
family  worship  can  begin  to  be  so  attractive  as 
this  simple  yet  splendid  service.  No  one  man's 
teaching  can  be  compared  to  the  rich  variety  of 
religious  thinking  which  is  offered  by  these 
great  church  leaders. 

When  the  prayer  is  ended, — sometimes  in 
the  full  sentences  of  the  Prayer-book,  sometimes 
the   utterances  of  a    " heart's  sincere  desire," 


174  RELIGIOUS  FREEDOM  W 

often  only  the  familiar  Lord's  Prayer, — the 
students  rise  and  sing  a  hymn  in  closing.  With 
a  short  benediction  and  a  responsive  amen  from 
the  choir,  the  service  is  ended.  No  notices  of 
any  kind,  or  announcements,  are  ever  given  at 
any  service  in  the  chapel. 

(2)  A  preaching  service  is  held  on  Sunday 
evening  in  the  college  Chapel.  Here  one  of 
the  college  preachers  officiates.  Each  college 
preacher  is  expected  to  supply  the  pulpit  four 
times  a  year.  The  Board  of  Preachers  for  the 
year  also  select  a  number  of  clergymen  from 
other  churches,  who  give  about  one-third  of  the 
sermons  during  the  year.  All  these  sermons  are 
expected  to  deal  with  religion  in  its  essential 
elements  and  universal  aspects  —  practical  ser- 
mons on  the  religious  life. 

(3)  The  influence  of  the  preacher  upon  the 
University  does  not  stop  every  day  at  nine 
o'clock  in  the  morning,  nor  is  it  limited  to  the 
Chapel  pulpit.  The  University  Calendar  in- 
variably contains  the  following  notice :  — 

"The  preacher  conducting  morning  prayers 
may  be  found  at  Wadsworth  House  I.  every  day 
during  his  term  of  service. " 


AMERICAN  EDUCATION  175 

Wadsworth  House  is  the  residence  of  the  col- 
lege preachers  while  in  Cambridge.  It  stands  in 
the  "Quadrangle,"  in  the  heart  of  college  life, 
where  it  has  stood  since  1726,  when  it  was  built 
for  the  president's  home.  Here  the  young  men 
can  meet  the  preachers  personally,  and  converse 
with  them  confidentially  on  all  perplexing  ques- 
tions that  University  life  raises  in  regard  to 
religion,  morality,  and  charity.  This  consult- 
ing-room is  seldom  crowded,  but  never  neg- 
lected. 

(4)  A  popular  service  has  been  introduced 
during  the  winter  term,  for  several  years,  as  a 
vesper  service  on  Thursday  afternoons.  The 
Chapel  is  thrown  open  to  the  public,  and  the 
students  take  this  opportunity  to  invite  their 
friends  to  the  college.  The  ladies  seem  espe- 
cially pleased  with  the  exercises,  and  Thursday 
afternoons  assume  the  aspect  of  half-holidays. 
Vespers  begins  at  five,  and  last  some  forty 
minutes :  they  are  largely  a  service  of  song, 
but  always  have  a  short  sermon.  The  music  is 
furnished  by  the  college  choir,  aided  usually  by 
some  soloist  from  the  neighboring  cities. 

As  the  reader  will  have  noticed,  the  following 


176  RELIGIOUS  FREEDOM  IN 

principles  are  involved  in  the  { '  Harvard  Plan 7  J : 
(a)  absolute  religious  freedom  by  leaving  attend- 
~ance  upon  all  these  services  perfectly  voluntary  $ 
JI£  rotation  in  service  of  distinguished  preachers, 
who  are  officers  of  the  University,  usually  serv- 
ing for  several  years  in  succession,  and  who  bring 
their  wisest  and  broadest  word  on  religion  and 
life  to  these  students  ;  (e)  what  Professor  Peabody 
calls  "the  heart  of  the  movement,"  the  residence 
of  these  preachers  at  the  University  during  their 
terms  of  service,  to  maintain  pastoral  relations 
with  the  students,  conferring  with  them  respect- 
ing their  religious  problems. 

President  Charles  W.  Eliot  gives  this  emphatic 
testimony  in  favor  of  the  good  results  that  have 
followed  the  adoption  of  these  methods  :  — 

"Both  these  branches  of  the  ministers'  work 
[preaching  and  pastoral]  have  succeeded  in  a 
high  degree.  The  services  on  Sunday  evenings 
and  Thursday  afternoons  are  largely  attended  ; 
and  morning  prayers  at  a  quarter  before  nine 
are  attended  in  a  satisfactory  way,  although  by 
varying  numbers  and  never  by  a  large  propor- 
tion of  the  total  body  of  students  in  Cambridge. 
An    attendance    of   two    hundred    at  morning 


AMERICAN  EDUCATION  177 

prayers  is  considered  good ;  and  in  very  bad 
weather,  especially  on  Monday  morning,  the  at- 
tendance occasionally  descends  to  sixty  or  sev- 
enty persons.  All  the  services  now  held  in  Ap- 
pleton  Chapel  are  strictly  devotional  in  method 
and  in  spirit.  No  one  attends  any  of  them  ex- 
cept from  the  conviction  that  it  is  good  for  him 
to  be  there.  It  is  perfectly  understood  among 
both  faculty  and  students  that  no  record  is  kept 
of  attendance  at  the  chapel,  and  that  no  gain  of 
any  sort  can  result  from  attendance  except  the 
satisfaction  of  a  religious  need.  The  congrega- 
tion is  a  shifting  one  from  morning  to  morning 
and  from  week  to  week,  although,  of  course, 
some  students  and  some  officers  go  to  chapel 
habitually.  In  ten  years  there  has  been  no  sign 
of  diminishing  interest  in  the  chapel  exercises ; 
but,  on  the  contrary,  there  has  been  manifested 
a  growing  interest. 

"In  seeking  the  reasons  for  the  success  of  this 
purely  optional  method  in  a  community  of  young 
men  at  a  time  of  life  which,  on  the  whole,  is  not, 
in  common  estimation,  religiously  inclined,  the 
first  cause  which  comes  to  mind  is  the  quality  of 
the  preachers  themselves  who  in  successive  years 


178  RELIGIOUS  FREEDOM  IN 

have  had  charge  of  the  work.  These  ministers 
have  been,  and  need  to  be,  more  than  usually 
capable  as  preachers.  They  need  to  be  simple, 
direct,  and  manly,  but  also  full  of  religious 
enthusiasm  and  of  intellectual  resource.  The 
variety  of  preachers  is  one  of  the  advantages  of 
the  method.  The  preachers  have  come  from 
various  denominations  and  localities,  and  they 
have  been  men  of  varied  professional  training 
and  experience." 

Henry  Drummond,  certainly  a  fair  and  com- 
petent witness,  declared  that  the  services  in 
Appleton  Chapel  were  the  most  religious,  public 
or  private,  that  he  had  ever  seen.  The  influence 
of  this  " Harvard  Plan"  has  been  wide  and 
salutary.  It  may  be  traced  in  what  has  been 
done  to  modify  and  enrich  the  methods  at  Yale, 
Amherst,  Dartmouth,  Yassar,  and  other  institu- 
tions, where  distinguished  ministers  from  a  dis- 
tance, representing  various  denominations,  are 
called  into  service.  A  few  of  the  State. Universi- 
ties, like  the  University  of  Indiana,  have  copied 
some  of  these  methods.  The  University  of  Chi- 
cago has  recently  adopted  a  system  that  resembles 
in  some  particulars  the  methods  in  operation  at 


AMERICAN  EDUCATION  179 

Harvard.  It  has  a  board  of  preachers,  who,  in 
turn,  reside  at  the  institution  for  a  term  of 
weeks,  conducting  chapel  exercises  and  preach- 
ing on  Sunday.  But,  unfortunately,  attendance 
at  chapel  is  compulsory  for  different  departments 
on  different  days,  the  service  is  marred  by  the 
presence  of  some  things  not  conducive  to  the 
religious  spirit,  and  the  pastoral  relation  is  not 
made  prominent. 


CONCLUSIONS  AND  EECOMMENDA- 
TIONS 


CONCLUSIONS  AND    RECOMMENDA- 
TIONS 

I.    Respecting  the  Public  Schools. 

There  is  a  feeling  abroad  in  the  land  that  we 
do  not  have  moral  power  sufficient  for  the  great 
task  of  civilization  which  we  face.  Those  clear- 
eyed  observers  among  us  who  are  not  pessimists 
realize  the  ethical  insufficiency  of  our  people. 
When  we  make  up  the  balance-sheet  of  the  past 
hundred  years  or  take  stock  for  the  business  of 
the  coming  century,  it  is  necessary  that  we  look 
carefully  to  our  gains  and  losses  in  righteousness. 
And,  optimists  as  we  ought  to  be,  there  are  some 
pretty  black  facts  that  stare  us  in  the  face.  The 
horrible  brutality  of  our  frequent  lynchings  and 
burnings  at  the  stake,  which  constantly  increase 
all  over  our  land  ;  the  alarming  number  of  mur- 
ders,—  one  annually  to  every  thousand  families 
in  many  States  ;  the  almost  incredible  growth  of 
divorces, — these  facts  make  an  awful  record. 
"Who  can  describe  the  evils  of  the  saloon  f    Not 

183 


184  RELIGIOUS  FREEDOM  IN 

less  alarming  is  the  spread  of  bribery  in  the 
realm  of  politics.  The  bribe-giver  and  the 
bribe-taker  stand  at  many  a  ballot  box,  and 
they  stand  there  with  no  shame  and  little  cen- 
snre.  They  stalk  brazenly  through  public  as- 
semblies from  village  council  chamber  to  legisla- 
tive hall.  The  marks  of  their  infamy  brand 
many  a  brow  from  alderman  to  high  govern- 
mental official. 

An  engineer  recently  remarked:  "We  shall 
have  to  rebuild  all  the  bridges  on  our  line  of 
railroad  the  coming  summer.  The  old  ones 
would  collapse  under  the  weight  of  the  new  cars 
that  are  to  be  double  the  size  of  those  which 
were  formerly  run  on  our  line.  > }  Apt  illustration 
of  what  has  already  happened  to  a  marked  de- 
gree in  the  social  and  political  world.  The  vil- 
lage conscience  has  often  gone  to  pieces  under 
the  metropolitan  stress  and  strain !  A  moral 
sense  that  was  adequate  for  simpler  conditions 
has  collapsed  under  the  heavier  burdens  of 
modern  life.  The  complexity  of  our  problem 
has  outgrown  the  ethical  evolution.  Our  fort- 
unes have  increased  faster  than  our  moral  re- 
sources.    Temptations  have  outrun  the  growth 


AMERICAN  EDUCATION  185 

of  moral  sentiment.  The  life-traffic  is  too  heavy 
for  the  life-bridges.  To  be  as  good  an  alderman 
as  his  predecessor  a  generation  ago,  my  neighbor 
must  have  vastly  more  moral  capital.  He  must 
be  able  to  resist  the  bribes  of  contractors  and 
promoters  in  quest  for  franchise,  who  were  then 
almost  unknown. 

But  worse  than  this :  Not  only  have  burdens 
and  temptations  increased  with  very  much 
greater  rapidity  than  the  growth  of  moral  power, 
our  spiritual  resources  have  actually  diminished. 
Not  only  are  the  new  cars  heavier,  the  bridges 
are  weaker  from  the  decay  of  prop  and  brace. 
Eeligious  conviction  has  lost  much  of  its  author- 
ity and  power  to  guide  human  life.  The  church 
no  longer  commands  :  it  entertains  and  pleads. 
The  home  does  not  give  that  vigorous  moral 
training  which  it  once  provided  and  ought  still 
to  provide.  The  press  amuses  and  instructs, 
but  it  seldom  arouses  and  leads.  Literature  too 
often  takes  us  into  the  sewer  rather  than  to  the 
heights.  The  precious  institution  of  Sunday  no 
longer  safeguards  the  common  sanctities  as  for- 
merly. Let  us  not  exaggerate.  We  must  not 
for  a  moment  think  that  all,  or  even  a  majority, 


186  RELIGIOUS  FREEDOM  IN 

of  the  people  are  bad.  In  some  directions  there 
have  been  decided  gains  for  morality.  In  many- 
lines  of  business,  honor  and  honesty  were  prob- 
ably never  before  so  high.  But  outside  some  de- 
partments, like  the  post-office,  there  has  been  a 
plunge  downward  in  the  ideals  and  methods  of 
the  men  in  public  life  in  America. 

Now,  when  people  begin  to  realize  these  condi- 
tions,—  and  many  have  already  become  alarmed 
by  these  dangers  that  threaten  us, — they  look  for 
the  cause  of  these  evils,  in  order  that  some  rem- 
edy may  be  found  and  applied.  They  anxiously 
ask  :  What  institution  is  at  fault  %  Where  have 
we  been  negligent  I  What  have  we  left  undone 
that  ought  to  have  been  done  t  The  interest  of 
self-preservation  is  fundamental  and  imperative. 
When  the  community  fully  realizes  that  its  best 
interests  are  actually  imperilled,  public  senti- 
ment will  be  aroused  to  the  point  of  intense  ac- 
tivity. Then  the  danger-point  will  be  reached,  — 
the  probability  of  doing  something  rash  and  rev- 
olutionary, of  applying  drastic  and  harmful 
methods  of  treatment. 

Indications  are  multiplying  which  show  that 
we  are  fast  nearing  this  state  of  mind.     People 


AMERICAN  EDUCATION  187 

have  expected  so  much  of  the  Public  School  that, 
very  naturally,  when  they  see  that  things  are 
going  wrong,  that  there  is  a  deficiency  of  moral 
sentiment,  they  conclude  that  these  evils  and 
dangers  are  upon  us  because  our  system  of  edu- 
cation is  radically  at  fault.  Criticisms  and  even 
condemnations  of  the  Public  Schools  abound. 
Eminent  educators,  with  a  reputation  for  sobri- 
ety, pass  severe  judgments  upon  our  methods  of 
popular  education,  calling  especial  attention  to 
their  failure  to  give  proper  training  in  morals. 

It  needs  no  eye  of  prophecy  to  see  that  three 
convictions  are  taking  shape  in  the  public  mind  : 
(1)  the  deepening  sense  that  our  moral  condi- 
tion is  unsatisfactory  and  that  our  ethical  equip- 
ment is  inadequate ;  (2)  the  wide-spread  con- 
demnation of  the  Public  Schools,  holding  them 
responsible  for  the  moral  delinquencies  of  so- 
ciety in  general ;  (3)  the  demand  that  some- 
thing be  done,  vigorous  and  radical,  to  avert 
these  dangers  and  remedy  these  defects. 

In  order  to  cure  existing  evils  and  avert  im- 
pending dangers,  some  urge  that  didactic  in- 
struction in  ethics  be  given  a  prominent  place 
in  our  methods  of  common  school  instruction. 


188  RELIGIOUS  FREEDOM  IN 

Some  ask  that  the  Bible  be  more  largely  used 
in  the  Public  School.  Some  suggest  that  the 
school-houses  be  turned  over  to  all  the  sects  for 
the  religious  instruction  of  children  on  evenings 
and  Saturdays  and  during  vacations.  And  some 
demand  that  the  fundamental  principles  of  Chris- 
tianity be  introduced  into  our  schools. 

These  problems  are  upon  us,  not  as  matters 
of  theory,  but  as  practical  questions  that  will 
soon  press  for  careful  consideration  and  skilful 
handling.  To  show  the  direction  of  public  senti- 
ment along  this  line,  it  would  not  be  difficult  to 
mass  together  a  large  collection  of  opinions,  like 
the  following  from  Eev.  Josiah  Strong,  D.D., 
president  of  the  League  for  Social  Service,  a 
man  who  is  in  close  touch  with  the  modern 
world  and  who  reflects  a  growing  popular  feel- 
ing :  u  There  is  a  profound  need  of  a  great  ethi- 
cal revival  in  the  church  as  well  as  outside  of  it, 
and  a  much  better  ethical  training  should  be 
given  both  in  the  Sunday-school  and  the  day 
school.  I  am  of  the  number  who  believe  that 
religion  affords  the  only  adequate  basis  for  ethi- 
cal instruction.  Between  the  upper  and  nether 
millstones  of  Bomanism  and  secularism,  all  re- 


AMERICAN  EDUCATION  189 

ligion  will  be  ground  out  of  our  Public  Schools. 
I  would  like  very  much  to  see  inculcated  in  them 
the  fundamental  truths  common  to  all  monothe- 
istic religions  ;  namely,  the  existence  of  a  God, 
man's  immortality  and  his  accountability.  Jew, 
Catholic,  and  Protestant  alike  believe  in  these 
fundamental  truths. ' ' 

There  is  much  that  may  be  commended  in  the 
opening  sentences  of  this  statement.  The  need 
of  an  ethical  revival  in  the  churches  is  evident. 
Many  will  agree  with  Dr.  Strong  that  religion  is 
the  only  adequate  basis  for  moral  training.  But 
the  closing  sentences  raise  radically  different 
problems.  Even  if  piety  is  the  only  sure  basis 
for  morality,  it  does  not  follow  that  a  scheme  of 
theology,  however  brief,  should  be  imposed  upon 
our  State  schools. 

But  this  noteworthy  statement  from  Dr.  Strong, 
and  many  similar  facts,  show  that  some  of  the 
important  matters  which  ten  years  ago  seemed 
finally  and  happily  settled  have  to  be  opened 
up  again  for  fresh  discussion  from  new  points  of 
view,  and  another  settlement  along  different  lines 
must  be  reached.  The  general  principles  which 
must  guide  us  have  been  set  forth  with  some  ful- 


190  RELIGIOUS  FREEDOM  IN 

ness  in  the  opening  chapters  of  this  little  treatise. 
All  that  needs  be  attempted  here  is  to  reiterate 
some  of  the  fundamental  statements  already 
made,  especially  as  they  bear  upon  these  new 
phases  of  the  problem,  and  to  consider  very 
briefly  a  few  of  the  new  questions  that  have  been 
raised. 

A  consideration  to  be  kept  prominently  in 
mind  and  pressed  to  the  front  is  this  :  It  is  well 
to  realize  our  ethical  insufficiency  j  but,  while 
we  do  this,  let  us  not  condemn  the  Public 
School  for  what  it  is  not  responsible.  To  hold 
the  common  schools  responsible  for  all  our  social 
immorality  and  political  degradation  is  an  un- 
reasonable, unjust,  and  harmful  interpretation 
of  existing  conditions :  unreasonable,  because  it 
ignores  many  influences  for  evil,  such  as  immi- 
gration, commercialism,  domestic  disorder,  and 
religious  indifference,  and  locates  the  cause  where 
it  does  not  belong ;  unjust,  because  it  condemns 
the  agency  which  is  doing  the  most  to  enrich 
and  ennoble  human  life  \  harmful,  because  it  is 
a  diagnosis  which  diverts  attention  from  the  real 
sources  of  our  misfortunes,  discouraging  the 
valiant  workers  for  righteousness,   and  sending 


AMERICAN  EDUCATION  191 

us  in  the  wrong  direction  for  relief.  Let  us  not 
strike  down  the  best  Mends  of  morality  and 
religion  in  the  land.  And,  above  all,  let  us  not 
disown  the  essential  principles  of  our  modern 
civilization,  and  injure  both  the  cause  of  religion 
and  the  cause  of  education  by  applying  in  our 
haste  a  remedy  that  is  worse  than  the  evils  that 
really  exist. 

A.  To  those  who  plead  that  an  elaborate  system 
of  didactic  moral  instruction  be  added  to  the 
curriculum  of  the  Public  Schools  in  order  to  in- 
crease the  ethical  resources  of  our  people,  let  it 
be  said :  — 

(1)  The  courses  of  study  in  these  schools  are  at 
present  everywhere  excessively  elaborate  and 
burdensome,  and  what  is  urgently  needed  is 
simplification  in  education  rather  than  addi- 
tional studies. 

(2)  The  didactic  instruction  in  morals  which 
is  so  frequently  demanded  will  be  wholly  incapa- 
ble of  developing  the  ethical  life  sought.  What 
is  now  really  being  done,  as  well  as  what  cannot 
be  done,  in  the  line  of  moral  training  in  our 
Public  Schools,  are  vital  questions  which  have 
already  been  discussed  in  preceding  pages.     If 


192  RELIGIOUS  FREEDOM  IN 

history  and  psychology  teach  anything  with  com- 
manding iinpressiveness,  it  is  that  spiritual  power 
cannot  be  evolved  by  the  scholastic  mechanism 
proposed. 

B.  To  those  who  insist  that  school-houses  be 
turned  over  to  the  sects  for  the  religious  instruc- 
tion of  children  when  the  Public  School  is  not  in 
session,  let  it  be  said :  The  use  of  these  build- 
ings, which  are  the  property  of  the  secular  State, 
for  such  purposes,  would  be  illegal.  It  would 
be  so  far  a  union  of  church  and  State, —  the  use 
of  public  property  for  religious  purposes, —  what 
is  prohibited  by  the  genius  of  our  civilization, 
and  also  by  the  constitutions  and  statutes  of  a 
majority  of  our  States.  It  is  obviously  unneces- 
sary that  any  innovation  like  this  be  attempted, 
for  there  is  hardly  anywhere  a  village  but  that 
has  adequate  accommodations  for  such  work  in 
the  many  church  buildings  of  the  town.  It 
would  surely  be  unwise  and  inexpedient  to  in- 
augurate such  a  policy,  for  it  would  give  rise  at 
once  to  sectarian  jealousies  and  denominational 
rivalries. 

C.  To  those  who  ask,  like  Dr.  Strong,  that  the 
fundamentals  of  religion  be  taught  in  the  Public 
Schools,  let  it  be  said  :  — 


AMERICAN  EDUCATION  193 

(1)  The  same  objection  holds  against  this  as 
against  didactic  moral  instruction, — the  school 
is  already  overcrowded  with  topics  and  text- 
books. 

(2)  This  plan  is  in  plain  opposition  to  the  im- 
plied and  express  character  of  the  Public  School 
as  a  State  institution.  What  is  ruled  out,  by  the 
provision  of  the  constitution  and  by  the  genius 
of  our  civilization,  is  not  the  non-essentials  of 
religion,  but  religious  matters  of  all  kinds  ;  and 
this  is  done  for  the  good  of  religion  itself.  As 
soon  as  you  start  on  this  un-American  road,  the 
question  arises :  What  is  essential,  and  what 
non-essential?  Who  shall  decide,  the  pope  or 
the  Jewish  rabbi  f 

(3)  The  wise  friend  of  religion  ought  to  see 
that  the  school- room  is  not  the  most  appropriate 
place  for  the  cultivation  of  religious  feelings :  it 
cannot  have  the  spirit,  the  atmosphere,  the  as- 
sociations that  make  religious  culture  effective. 
To  attempt  such  a  combination  means  simply 
waste  of  time  and  vexatious  difficulties,  without 
reaching  the  spiritual  development  of  life  de- 
sired. Probably,  under  the  skilful  teacher,  the 
religious  nature  of  the  child  in  the  Public  School 


194  RELIGIOUS  FREEDOM  IN 

is  often  quickened  ;  but  this  conies  as  an  indirect 
result.  It  would  seldom  occur  if  the  teacher 
were  directly  seeking  to  make  a  religious  im- 
pression. 

In  this  connection  it  may  be  well  to  refer  to 
an  argument  which  is  being  put  forth  in  some 
quarters  in  behalf  of  the  movement  to  introduce 
religious  instruction  into  our  Public  Schools : 
"It  is  a  serious  phase  of  the  present  situation 
that  the  religious  and  moral  instruction  of  the 
young  is  isolated  from  their  instruction  in  other 
departments  of  knowledge.  The  correlation  of 
the  different  elements  of  education  is  incomplete, 
because  the  religious  and  moral  instruction  is 
received  in  entire  separation  from  the  general 
instruction  of  the  Public  Schools.  The  facts 
and  truths  of  religion  are  the  foundation  and 
the  imperative  of  morality.  Present  civilization 
rests  upon  the  religious  and  ethical  ideals  of  the 
past,  and  the  civilization  of  the  future  depends 
upon  a  due  recognition  of  religion  and  morality 
as  essential  factors  in  the  growing  welfare  of  hu- 
manity. The  knowledge  and  experience  of  re- 
ligious and  moral  truth  must  underlie  and  pene- 
trate all  knowledge  and  experience.     The  events 


AMERICAN  EDUCATION  195 

and  ideas  of  the  past,  as  of  the  present,  must  be 
viewed  in  the  light  of  a  divine  hand  as  the  cre- 
ator of  the  universe,  a  divine  power  sustaining 
it,  a  divine  wisdom  guiding  it,  and  a  divine 
purpose  being  accomplished  in  it.  The  physical 
world  about  us,  our  fellow- men,  and  our  own 
selves  must  all  be  interpreted  by  religion  truly 
conceived  and  morality  properly  understood.  It 
is  therefore  impossible  to  accomplish  the  ideal 
education  of  the  individual  when  the  religious 
and  moral  element  is  isolated  from  the  other  ele- 
ments 5  still  worse  when  it  is  not  received  at  all 
by  the  majority  of  the  children.  All  the  ele- 
ments of  education  must  be  woven  together  into 
an  organic  unity  to  produce  a  perfect  result." 

It  is  certainly  discouraging  to  have  such  ideas 
as  these  set  forth  with  the  approval  of  the  pres- 
ident of  one  of  our  great  Universities,  who  is  a 
prominent  advocate  of  more  modern  methods  in 
Sunday-school  work.  The  argument,  however 
plausible  in  appearance,  does  not  touch  the 
point  at  issue.  The  importance  of  religion,  the 
religious  significance  of  all  truth,  the  necessity 
for  harmonious  development, — these  proposi- 
tions are  all  true.  But  they  are  not  involved  in 
this  discussion. 


196  RELIGIOUS  FREEDOM  IN 

Secular  instruction  and  religious  instruction 
are  not  necessarily  separated  because  one  is 
given  in  a  Public  School  on  week-days  and  the 
other  in  a  church  on  Sunday.  The  harmful  sep- 
aration between  life  and  religion,  which  does 
widely  exist  to-day,  does  not  arise  from  the  fact 
that  religion  is  excluded  from  the  secular  school ; 
but  it  arises  rather  from  the  fact  that  the  in- 
struction of  the  church  in  spirit,  method,  and 
material,  is  commonly  on  a  traditional  and  anti- 
quated plan.  To  teach  religion  in  church  on 
Sunday,  and  science  in  the  Public  School  on 
Monday  without  any  theological  association,  no 
more  separates  these  two  spheres  of  life,  no  more 
injures  either  kind  of  instruction,  than  the  teach- 
ing of  the  classics  by  one  teacher  on  Tuesday  in 
our  school-room  injures  the  scientific  instruction 
given  by  another  teacher  on  Wednesday  in  the 
laboratory ! 

The  absurdity  of  the  argument  quoted  above 
is  easily  seen,  if  we  turn  the  proposition  squarely 
about.  It  is  contended,  in  substance,  that  relig- 
ion ought  to  be  taught  along  with  arithmetic,  in 
order  to  get  the  best  results  in  religion.  If  so, 
then  the  preacher,  to  make  the  deepest  spiritual 


AMERICAN  EDUCATION  197 

impression,  ought  to  share  his  morning  hour  in 
the  pulpit  on  Sunday  with  a  lecturer  on  vol- 
canoes or  on  protoplasm !  Now  what  is  really- 
necessary  is  simply  that  both  the  teacher  of 
science  and  the  teacher  of  the  classics  live  in  the 
same  modern  world  !  So  in  these  other  realms  : 
the  only  necessity  is  that  preacher  and  Sunday- 
school  teacher  live  in  the  world  of  modern  knowl- 
edge. 

The  argument  in  the  foregoing  quotation, 
though  presented  by  a  Protestant,  exactly  de- 
scribes the  position  long  held  by  the  Catholic 
church ;  namely,  that,  in  order  to  make  educa- 
tion effective,  both  common  knowledge  and  re- 
ligious dogma  must  be  taught  to  young  people 
by  the  same  teacher  in  the  same  school.  The 
Catholic  holds  that  scientific  instruction  given 
apart  from  theological  doctrine  is  ungodly  :  not 
only  fruitless,  but  injurious.  He  holds  also  that 
to  develop  the  moral  sense  successfully  the  creed 
must  go  hand  in  hand  with  general  information. 
The  complete  refutation  of  this  argument, 
whether  put  forth  by  Catholic  or  Protestant,  is 
found  in  the  appeal  to  experience.  Where  have 
the  great  scientists  vof  America  been  educated? 


198  RELIGIOUS  FREEDOM  IN 

A  great  majority  in  the  Public  Schools,  not  in 
the  parochial  schools.  Where  have  our  great 
reformers,  as  a  rule,  been  trained,  our  men  and 
women  of  keenest  conscience,  like  Parker  and 
Garrison,  Mary  A.  Livermore  and  Frances  E. 
Willard,  Horace  Greeley  and  Charles  Sumner? 
In  parish  schools  ?    No,  in  the  common  schools  ! 

D.  To  those  who  demand  that,  in  order  to  re- 
move the  lamentable  popular  ignorance  of  the 
Bible, — which  indeed  widely  prevails,  especially 
at  the  present  time,  among  the  youug, — the 
Scriptures  be  more  extensively  used  in  the  Public 
Schools,  let  it  be  said  : 

(1)  The  popular  ignorance  of  the  Bible  is  un- 
fortunate, and  efficient  means  ought  at  once  to 
be  taken  to  cultivate  a  thorough  acquaintance 
with  these  writings  and  to  train  people  in  a 
rational  use  of  them.  But  this  ignorance  of  the 
Bible,  this  indifference  to  Scripture,  is  in  no 
sense  due  to  the  fact  that  it  has  been  dropped 
from  the  Public  Schools.  It  exists  in  localities 
where  the  Bible  is  daily  read  in  the  schools  just 
the  same  as  in  regions  where  it  is  not  used. 
Among  the  masses  in  England  and  Germany 
where  the  schools  force  a  good  deal  of  Bible  in- 


AMERICAN  EDUCATION  199 

struction  upon  children,  the  people  are  turning 
away  from  religion  and  the  Scriptures  even 
more  than  with  us,  showing  that  the  absence  of 
a  little  Bible- reading  from  the  work  of  our  Pub- 
lic School  is  not  the  cause  of  the  indifference 
and  ignorance  under  discussion.  The  condition 
is  international,  and  the  cause  lies  deep  down  in 
our  civilization. 

The  fact  is  that  the  use  of  the  Bible  for  dogma 
is  widely  discredited,  because  interest  in  dogma 
has  died.  The  study  of  the  Bible  for  theology 
has  stopped  because  the  theological  spirit  has 
vanished.  And  these  are  unfortunately  about 
the  only  uses  of  the  Bible  with  which  people 
are  familiar.  The  views  of  life  with  which  the 
Bible  was  erroneously  long  associated  have 
largely  been  abandoned.  The  real  character 
and  true  message  of  the  Bible  are  not  generally 
understood!  What  therefore  stands  in  the  way 
of  the  Bible  is  not  its  disuse  in  the  schools,  but 
an  irrational  view  of  it  and  a  dogmatic  use  of  it. 
The  way  to  kindle  an  interest  in  the  Bible  is  not 
to  put  it  back  into  the  schools,  but  to  place  it 
on  its  own  merits  in  the  world  of  religious  life. 
Let  the  churches  put  the  real  Bible,  illuminated 


200  RELIGIOUS  FREEDOM  IN 

by  modern  discovery,  into  the  hands  of  the  peo- 
ple. This  will  bring  a  new  day  of  power  for 
the  Bible  and  a  rebirth  of  Christianity  itself. 

(2)  In  order  to  carry  ont  this  suggestion,  to 
accomplish  what  must  be  done  if  the  object 
sought  is  realized,  a  great  deal  more  must  be 
undertaken  than  what  the  Public  Schools  can  or 
could  do,  even  if  their  secular  character  did  not 
make  the  work  inappropriate.  There  is  not 
time  enough  in  the  Public  Schools  to  give  thor- 
ough instruction  in  the  Bible.  The  old  perfunc- 
tory reading  of  a  short  passage  is  not  sufficient. 
Anything  like  a  prolonged  study  is  out  of  the 
question. 

But  why  go  to  the  Public  Schools  at  all  with 
this  question  t  It  is  a  problem  that  belongs  to 
the  churches.  If  the  people  are  becoming  igno- 
rant of  the  Bible,  our  ministers  are  to  blame  for 
it.  Let  us  not  hold  the  overworked  common 
school  teacher  responsible  for  this  ignorance, 
while  we  allow  the  churches  to  go  free  of  cen- 
sure. What  are  the  hundred  thousand  churches 
in  our  Nation  for,  if  not  just  for  this  one  thing, — 
to  teach  the  Bible  ?  If  the  Bible  has  fallen  out 
of  American  life,  the  churches  are  to  blame  for 


AMERICAN  EDUCATION  201 

it.  Let  us  hold  the  guilty  party  responsible. 
Nothing  is  more  unreasonable  than  for  eccle- 
siastics to  blame  the  State  schools  for  this  popu- 
lar ignorance  respecting  the  Bible,  which,  in 
fact,  is  an  ignorance  that  reveals  their  own  in- 
sufficiency. It  is  the  church  that  must  do  this 
work.  Let  the  church  train  competent  Bible 
teachers  and  pay  for  Sunday-school  instruction. 
Here,  and  here  alone,  is  the  remedy.  President 
Wheeler  of  the  University  of  California  has 
recently  made  a  wise  remark,  that  the  churches 
must  spend  more  money  on  their  Sunday-school 
and  less  on  their  choir  ! 

(3)  There  is  at  present  a  demand  made  by 
such  eminent  educators  as  President  Butler  of 
Columbia  University,  that  the  Bible  be  given  a 
high  place  in  the  Public  Schools  as  literature  ; 
and  it  is  claimed  by  him  and  others  that,  if  we 
provide  more  extensively  for  its  study  in  the 
common  schools  as  literature,  the  evils  of  the 
present  situation  will  be  removed.  Those  who 
advance  this  argument  are  right  in  one  particu- 
lar :  what  we  most  need  is  a  more  rational  use 
of  the  Bible  as  a  precious  religious  literature. 
But  they  are  wrong  in  every  other  particular  t 


202  RELIGIOUS  FREEDOM  IN 

The  churches,  not  the  Public  Schools,  are  the 
institutions  to  do  this  work,  as  has  just  been 
stated.  Let  us  hold  them  responsible  for  it. 
They  are  supported  to  give  religious  instruction. 
This  is  their  specific  office.  It  is  their  business 
to  make  the  people  familiar  with  the  greatest 
religious  literature  in  the  world. 

But  more  than  this.  We  could  not  in  the  way 
suggested  escape  the  sectarian  entanglement. 
We  cannot  by  this  policy  satisfy  the  various 
churches  which  are  not  ready  to  have  the  Bible 
treated  merely  as  literature !  If  the  Public 
School  should  assume  to  use  the  Bible  simply 
and  solely  as  a  literature,  which  is  the  demand 
that  is  made,  this  would  involve  the  State  in 
sectarian  wrangles  at  once.  To  take  this  posi- 
tion is  to  pass  judgment  on  the  Bible,  it  is  an 
indirect  assumption  that  the  Bible  is  only  litera- 
ture. The  State  has  no  right  to  do  this.  It  will 
get  into  trouble  with  the  churches  if  it  attempts 
to  do  it.  Some  church  would  very  soon  say: 
"The  Bible  is  an  infallible  revelation,  and  the 
State  school  has  no  right  to  use  it  simply  as 
a  literature  I  We  protest  against  having  our 
children  use  the  Bible  just  as  they  use  Cicero's 
Orations ! " 


AMERICAN  EDUCATION  203 

The  friends  of  religious  freedom  in  education 
in  America  ought  to  keep  in  mind  themselves, 
and  make  clear  to  others,  these  fundamental 
truths  :  — 

I.  The  Public  Schools  must  be  judged  by  what 
they  accomplish  in  the  particular  line  of  their 
special  work.  They  are  created  and  supported 
by  the  State  to  provide  a  certain  type  and 
amount  of  education, — the  education  most  needed 
for  good  citizenship, — which  the  Secular  State  is 
in  duty  bound  to  give.  It  is  not  intended  that 
they  develop  all  sides  of  human  nature  or  equip 
the  individual  for  every  task  in  life.  There  are 
other  agencies  and  institutions  to  prepare  people 
for  these  tasks,  —  the  home,  the  church,  the  li- 
brary. If  the  common  schools  fail  in  their 
specific  work,  let  them  be  criticised,  in  order 
that  they  may  be  improved.  But  let  us  not  be 
so  unjust  as  to  condemn  them  for  public  defi- 
ciencies which  lie  quite  apart  from  their  sphere 
and  for  which  they  are  not  responsible.  And 
let  us  not  be  so  unwise  as  to  injure  them  and  the 
cause  of  true  piety  by  imposing  upon  them  the 
important  but  delicate  duties  of  religious  instruc- 
tion, which  they  are  not  organized  to  give  and 


204  RELIGIOUS  FREEDOM  IN 

which  are  amply  provided  for  by  other  institu- 
tions if  they  do  their  duty. 

II.  If  the  churches  will  do  their  work  as  effi- 
ciently as  the  teachers  of  the  Public  Schools  are 
doing  theirs,  the  present  popular  ignorance  of 
the  Bible  will  soon  disappear  and  the  increase 
of  moral  power  among  our  people  will  be  en- 
couragingly rapid.  ~No  wonder  that  the  young 
people  are  ignorant  of  Scripture  and  indifferent 
to  it.  How  could  it  be  otherwise  with  such 
methods  as  are  generally  used  in  the  Sunday- 
schools  and  with  such  teachers  as  are  provided, 
as  a  rule,  for  Sunday-school  classes !  "What 
is  done  in  the  ordinary  Sunday-school  is  not 
worthy  of  the  name  instruction.  It  is  mere 
inane  dawdling !  How  can  you  expect  high 
school  boys  and  girls  to  take  any  interest  in  the 
Bible  when  their  Sunday-school  teacher  con- 
tradicts what  they  have  learned  about  history 
and  nature  f  When  he  sees  nothing  in  the  Bible 
page  but  a  scheme  of  theology  discredited  by 
the  common  knowledge  of  the  time  !  When  he 
takes  them  into  a  dead  world  of  irrational  tradi- 
tions !  No  wonder  that  the  Bible  goes  unread 
when  so  unskilfully  presented. 


AMERICAN  EDUCATION  205 

We  insist  that  the  person  who  teaches  our 
children  grammar  and  chemistry  shall  be  mature, 
thoroughly  educated,  and  especially  trained  for 
her  work.  But  we  pick  up  any  sentimental  girl 
or  superannuated  goody,  and  make  her  a  Sunday- 
school  teacher.  We  commit  to  her  our  children 
to  be  trained  in  ethics  and  religion,  to  be  in- 
structed in  the  character  and  message  of  the 
Bible, —  a  far  more  important  and  delicate  ser- 
vice than  teaching  grammar  and  chemistry. 
Nothing  more  unwise  could  possibly  be  done. 
If  careful  preparation  and  special  aptitude  are 
needed  in  the  Public  school  teacher,  far  more 
do  we  need  Sunday-school  teachers  who  are 
chosen  with  great  care  and  specially  trained  for 
their  work.  But  where  is  the  church  that  has 
them !  that  is  willing  to  pay  for  them  ? 

It  is  largely  because  the  Sunday-school  work 
is  so  poorly  done  that  the  Bible  is  becoming  a 
dead  book.  And  for  this,  strange  to  say,  the 
Public  Sohools  are  savagely  condemned.  As 
people  neglect  the  Bible  chiefly  because  the 
Sunday-school  teacher  is  incompetent  and  the 
church  fails  in  its  own  mission  of  Bible  instruc- 
tion, a  hue  and  cry  is  raised,  and  the  demand  is 


206  RELIGIOUS  FREEDOM  IN 

made  that  the  overtaxed  Public  School  teacher 
be  compelled  to  do  this  work !  Nothing  more 
unjust  or  unwise  could  be  imagined.  We  must 
insist  that  the  churches  provide  trained  teachers 
to  do  the  work  that  belongs  to  them.  And,  when 
we  have  Sunday-school  teachers  even  half  as 
competent  in  their  line  of  religious  instruction 
as  the  Public  School  teachers  are  in  secular  in- 
struction, then  the  Bible  will  again  be  widely 
known  and  religion  will  have  new  power. 

II.     Eespecting  Colleges  and  Universities. 

During  the  last  twenty-five  years  there  has 
been  in  our  American  institutions  of  higher 
learning  a  notable  and  decided  movement 
toward  religious  freedom,  substituting  voluntary 
for  compulsory  attendance  on  chapel  and  church. 
The  institutions  to  participate  the  least  in  this 
movement  have  been  State  Normal  Schools  and 
Agricultural  Colleges.  Those  that  hava__bfiejL 
foremost  in  carrying  out  the  ideal  of  neutrality 
in  religion  have  been  the  State  Universities  and 
a  few  great  institutions,  like  Harvard,  Cornell, 
and  Leland  Stanford,  Jr.  Some  institutions  with 
close    denominational    affiliations,     like    Tale, 


AMERICAN  EDUCATION  207 

Smith,  and  Columbia  have  made  notable  prog- 
ress in  the  same  direction. 

In  only  a  few  cases,  like  the  University  of 
Wisconsin,  has  the  chapel  service  been  aban- 
doned. In  many  cases,  even  where  the  religions 
spirit  is  intense,  the  voluntary  policy  has  been 
substituted  for  the  compulsory.  In  many  other 
cases,  where  attendance  is  still  required,  the 
character  of  the  exercises  has  radically  changed, 
and,  on  the  whole,  improved  in  breadth  and 
variety.  The  meeting  now  held  is  more  a  social 
and  educational  assemblage  than  a  formal  relig- 
ious exercise. 

The  recent  change  at  Earlham  College  (Ortho- 
dox Quaker),  Eichmond,  Ind.,  illustrates  this 
tendency.  Attendance  is  still  compulsory  ;  but, 
instead  of  the  somewhat  staid  and  perfunctory 
service  formerly  held,  the  exercises  are  now 
varied  and  free, — readings  outside  of  Scripture, 
addresses  on  current  topics,  and  a  large  use  of 
music.  Almost  everywhere  the  chapel  exercises 
have  been  stripped  of  dogma  and  intolerance, 
while  they  have  been  humanized  and  vitalized. 
The  chapel  has  come  to  be  prized  and  enjoyed 
for  its  advantages  as  a  common  meeting,  where 


208  RELIGIOUS  FREEDOM  IN 

faculty  and  students  come  together  and  feel  the 
enthusiasm  of  a  corporate  life,  where  the  gen- 
eral interests  of  the  institution  are  presented, 
and  where  the  social  instincts  as  well  as  the 
religious  feelings  are  fostered. 

All  this  is  forcibly  indicated  in  what  has 
occurred  at  Lehigh  University :  chapel  was 
originally  compulsory  ;  then  it  was  made  volun- 
tary ;  but  after  two  years  it  was  again  made 
compulsory  at  the  request  of  the  whole  student 
body  (445),  not  so  much  as  a  matter  of  religious 
interest,  but  because  they  wanted  to  see  the 
whole  college  together  once  a  day  in  the  interest 
of  " college  spirit." 

The  following  statement  by  a  University  presi- 
dent seems  eminently  wise  :  "I  believe  in  the 
benefit  to  students  in  coming  together  freely 
daily  for  a  short  period.  They  thus  keep  in 
touch  with  what  is  going  on  and  with  one 
another.  The  chapel  period  can  be  made  very 
profitable  for  students.  If  one  avoids  all  sancti- 
monious pretence,  presents  interestingly  some 
ethical  and  religious  topic,  and  puts  life,  energy, 
and  scholarship  into  chapel  exercises,  attend- 
ance will  follow,  and  the  problem  is  solved  for 
ninety-nine  out  of  one  hundred  students." 


AMERICAN  EDUCATION  209 

What  lias  occurred  at  Earlham  and  Lehigh 
illustrates  the  spirit  and  method  of  the  changes 
which  are  everywhere  being  made  in  the  realm 
of  higher  education.  The  general  gain  may  be 
briefly  described  in  this  statement :  The  relig-  ^ 
ious  rights  of  the  student  are  far  more  widely 
respected  than  ever  before  j  theological  opinions 
opposed  to  his  own  conviction  are  not  thrust 
upon  him ;  his  own  religious  views,  if  uncom- 
mon and  peculiar,  do  not  subject  him  so  much 
as  formerly  to  annoyance  ;  religion  appeals  to 
him  in  a  more  rational  and  winsome  manner; 
and  he  is  made  to  feel  that  piety  is  a  personal 
matter  for  which  he  as  an  individual  is  alone 
responsible. 

The  changes  indicated  have  been  advantage- 
ous, on  the  whole,  to  the  cause  of  religion  and 
also  to  the  cause  of  education.  These  changes 
do  not  mean  an  indifference  to  religion,  but  a 
larger  conception  of  what  religion  really  is,  a 
clearer  understanding  of  the  true  methods  of  re- 
ligious nurture,  and  a  stronger  faith  in  the  inher- 
ent religiousness  of  human  nature.  What  seems 
at  first  glance  like  an  unfortunate  secularization 
of  education  has  been  followed,    in  many  in- 


210  RELIGIOUS  FREEDOM  IN 

stances,  by  a  deeper  religious  life  among  the 
students.  This  is  true  even  in  such  institutions 
as  the  great  State  Universities  of  Wisconsin  and 
California  where  no  chapel  exists.  What  the 
formal  and  official  service  failed  to  do  has  been 
done  by  the  students  themselves,  acting  freely  and 
spontaneously  through  the  local  churches  or  in 
connection  with  some  form  of  Christian  Associa- 
tion. 

An  illustration  of  this  fact  is  found  in  the 
situation  at  Ann  Arbor,  the  seat  of  the  Univer- 
sity of  Michigan  ;  and  the  same  is  true  in  other 
college  towns.  During  the  year  fully  fifty  ser- 
mons and  addresses  on  distinctly  religious  topics 
are  given  by  a  score  or  more  distinguished  clergy- 
men and  laymen  of  the  country.  These  men  are 
secured  by  the  students,  acting  through  local 
churches  or  organizations  of  their  own.  All 
these  discourses  are  free  to  the  public  ;  and  the 
attendance  of  the  students  is  seldom  less  than 
100,  and  it  often  rises  to  1,000.  Some  are  given 
on  Sundays,  and  some  are  given  on  week-days. 
It  may  confidently  be  asserted  that  there  is  pro- 
portionately much  less  hatred  of  the  church 
among  students  to-day  than  half  a  century  ago. 


AMERICAN  EDUCATION  211 

A  larger  proportion  of  students  are  now  engaged 
in  some  form  of  religious  interest  or  activity 
than  at  any  time  in  the  last  half- century. 

In  taking  account  of  the  religious  condition  of 
our  colleges  and  Universities,  the  Young  Men's 
Christian  Association  and  similar  organizations 
must  not  be  overlooked.  The  Association  is 
increasing  in  numbers  and  multiplying  its  ac- 
tivities at  all  our  seats  of  learning.  It  has 
effectively  organized  the  students  of  conserva- 
tive beliefs.  It  fosters  their  religious  life,  and 
sets  them  at  work  in  many  helpful  ministries. 
To  it  chiefly  is  due  the  fact,  just  stated,  that 
to-day  a  larger  proportion  of  students  than  ever 
before  are  aggressively  active  in  the  religious 
life.  The  work  may  be  less  modern  and  effec- 
tive than  it  might  be,  but  it  is  positive  and 
earnest.  These  results  show  that,  as  our  educa- 
tional institutions  have  ceased  to  coerce  students 
in  these  matters,  the  young  people  themselves 
have  taken  religious  interests  into  their  own 
hands ;  and  they  have  not  only  made  religion 
a  more  personal  affair,  but  they  have  given  it 
more  practical  and  varied  expression. 

There  are  many  deeply  religious  people  who 


212  RELIGIOUS  FREEDOM  IN 

wish  that  the  basis  of  the  Association  were 
broader  and  its  spirit  less  dogmatic,  yet  we  may 
all  rejoice  in  the  large  work  that  it  is  doing  j 
and  we  would  earnestly  insist  that  students  of 
a  more  modern  religious  ideal  ought  to  be 
equally  active  in  larger  methods  of  religious 
culture.  While  the  Association  does  not  repre- 
sent a  religious  spirit  sufficiently  progressive 
and  inclusive,  yet  it  is  encouraging  to  note  that 
it  does  mark  a  wide  and  hopeful  departure  from 
petty  controversies  and  arid  dogmas.  It  is,  to 
a  large  extent,  interdenominational,  and  so  far 
helpful  to  theological  neutrality  in  education ; 
but  it  stops  short  of  freedom  of  truth  and  uni- 
versality of  fellowship. 

But  let  no  one  imagine  that  the  best  has  yet 
been  done  in  a  sufficiently  large  way  to  secure 
theological  neutrality  on  the  one  hand,  and  on 
the  other  to  provide  the  motive  and  method  for 
positive  religious  culture.  In  many  cases  the 
present  methods  represent  an  arrested  develop- 
ment. More  has  been  done  to  secure  for  students 
liberty  of  religious  belief  than  to  give  efficient 
nurture  to  their  spiritual  nature.  The  cultiva- 
tion of  the  heart  has  not  kept  pace  with  the 


AMERICAN  EDUCATION  213 

decay  of  doctrinal  compulsion.  Text  and  dogma 
are  not  now  forced  upon  the  young  as  they  once 
were  :  here  is  the  improvement.  An  effective 
training  in  vital  piety  has  not  been  generally 
reached  :  here  is  the  limitation.  We  are  in  a 
stage  of  transition.  We  have  put  aside  some  old 
errors,  but  we  have  not  widely  adopted  new  and 
better  methods. 

The  present  problem  is  not,  How  to  emanci- 
pate from  bonds?  but,  rather,  How  to  secure 
the  free  cultivation  and  improvement  of  the  re- 
ligious life  of  students  1  The  conviction  deepens 
that  compulsory  attendance  on  a  formal  relig- 
ious service  is  not  a  wise  policy.  The  important 
fact  is  not  what  we  have  compelled  the  student 
to  attend,  but  what  we  have  helped  him  to  at- 
tain. On  the  other  hand,  simply  making  a  life- 
less exercise  voluntary  is  not  sufficient.  We 
cannot  in  this  way  provide  a  commanding  in- 
ducement to  piety  or  a  vitalizing  religious  at- 
mosphere. Merely  ceasing  to  drive  is  not  be- 
ginning to  win  young  hearts  to  reverence  and 
righteousness. 

The  social  and  educational  assembly  or  convo- 
cation, with  discussion  of  current  topics,  which 


K 


214  RELIGIOUS  FREEDOM  IN 

has  grown  up  in  many  institutions,  and  which 
expresses  the  present  tendency,  represents  a  gain 
for  religious  freedom  and  for  life  in  general. 
But,  though  called  a  " chapel  exercise"  and 
fringed  with  prayer  and  Bible-reading,  it  pro- 
vides no  adequate  religious  training  or  inspira- 
tion. As  a  meeting  for  school  notices  and  good 
fellowship,  it  may  be  fruitful ;  but  it  is  not  in 
that  secular  atmosphere  nor  by  those  superficial 
methods  that  the  religious  nature  of  the  young 
can  be  successfully  cultivated. 

Beligion  is  too  great  and  too  precious  a  factor 
in  human  life  to  be  ignored  by  the  educator 
or  left  entirely  to  the  whim  or  caprice  of  the 
college  student.  On  the  other  hand,  an  equal 
danger  lies  in  a  compulsory,  lifeless,  or  repel- 
lent administration  of  sacred  things.  Nowhere 
is  greater  skill  or  more  careful  preparation 
needed  than  in  the  conduct  of  a  religious  service 
attended  by  susceptible  young  men  and  women. 
Whether  a  bane  or  a  blessing  will  depend  upon 
the  spirit  of  the  man  behind  the  pulpit.  The 
supreme  end  to  be  reached  is  positiveness  of 
religious  impression  without  intolerance  or 
dogmatism. 


AMERICAN  EDUCATION  215 

Just  how  to  interest  students  in  religion, 
especially  in  State  institutions,  while  respecting 
their  freedom  and  imposing  no  creed,  is  a  prob- 
lem as  yet  incompletely  solved.  However  much 
neighboring  churches  may  do,  and  however  valu- 
able the  services  of  voluntary  associations  among 
the  students  themselves,  the  institution  itself 
ought  to  provide  opportunity  and  incentive. 
Nothing  better  can  be  recommended  to  overcome 
existing  defects  and  secure  the  desired  ends  than 
some  plan  similar  to  that  in  successful  operation 
at  Harvard,— utmost  liberty  in  attendance,  the 
ministers  of  various  denominations,  who  have  the 
genius  to  make  religion  interesting  and  impres- 
sive, acting  in  rotation  during  the  year  as 
preachers  and  pastors,  and  their  residence  during 
service  in  close  contact  with  the  students  for  free 
and  friendly  counsel.  Under  such  conditions 
the  authority  and  influence  of  the  institution 
itself  are  brought  to  bear,  without  compulsion  or 
dogmatism,  in  favor  of  high  spiritual  ideals. 
The  form  of  piety  thus  cultivated  will  surely  be 
rational,  genuine,  and  broad. 

A  special  building,  beautiful  and  impressive, 
with    the    enriching    associations    of   sanctity ; 


216  RELIGIOUS  FREEDOM 

music  and  prayers  that  are  the  expression  of 
the  purest  and  most  catholic  feelings  of  worship  ; 
the  affirmation  of  universal  religious  truths  with 
simplicity  and  power  5  the  presence  of  those 
brought  by  earnest  cravings  for  the  divine  life, — 
these  are  the  elements  of  a  chapel  or  church 
service  that  will  offend  none  and  bless  all. 


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